Death on the Nile (1978)

31 Monday Mar 2014

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Agatha Christie, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, David Niven, Egypt, Hercule Poirot, John Guillermin, Mia Farrow, Murder, Nile, Pearls, Peter Ustinov, Review, Shooting, Steamer, Whodunnit

D: John Guillermin / 140m

Cast: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jon Finch, Olivia Hussey, I.S. Johar, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Simon MacCorkindale, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Jack Warden

Making a somewhat delayed appearance after the success of Murder on the Orient Express (1974, and referenced here near the end), Death on the Nile takes the all-star format of that movie and replicates it in another Agatha Christie adaptation. Instead of Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot we have an avuncular, slightly whimsical Peter Ustinov, aided and abetted by old friend Colonel Race (Niven). The set up: murder committed on a steamer making its way down the Nile, makes good use of its confined setting, and keeps the audience guessing throughout.

The story begins in England. Heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Chiles) meets Simon (MacCorkindale), the fiancé of her best friend, Jackie (Farrow). Not long after Linnet and Simon marry, much to the dismay of Jackie. On their honeymoon tour of Europe and the Middle East, Jackie keeps popping up when they least expect it, attempting to ruin their trip. They give Jackie the slip on the morning of their trip down the Nile, and board the steamer, unaware that nearly everyone else on board has a reason to want to see Linnet dead. There’s her maid, Louise (Birkin), who is in love with a married man; Linnet refuses to give Louise the money she’s been promised so she can be with him. Sex-mad authoress Salome Otterbourne (Lansbury) is being sued by Linnet over an ill-disguised representation of her in one of Salome’s novels. Salome’s daughter, Rosalie (Hussey), will do anything to see her mother isn’t ruined. Mrs Van Schuyler (Davis) has designs on a set of valuable pearls that Linnet owns, while her companion, Miss Bowers (Smith), saw her family ruined by Linnet’s father. Then there is Andrew Pennington (Kennedy), Linnet’s American lawyer, who is embezzling funds from her estate, and would be ruined himself if she finds out. Add to the mix, would-be (but not very convincing) socialist Mr. Ferguson (Finch), who thinks people like Linnet should be done away with, and the secretive Dr Bessner (Warden), as well as Jackie – who finds her way on to the steamer after all – and you have the usual glut of suspects you come to expect from one of Agatha Christie’s whodunits.

One evening, Simon and Jackie have an argument. Jackie has been drinking and in a fit of anger, she pulls out a gun and shoots Simon in the leg. While a distraught Jackie is looked after by some of the other passengers, and Simon is seen to by Dr Bessner, someone takes the opportunity to steal Jackie’s gun and kill Linnet with it. Entrusted by the company that owns the steamer to investigate the matter before it reaches its destination, Poirot and Colonel Race seek to discover the murderer’s identity and reveal how the murder was committed and why.

Generally regarded as one of Agatha Christie’s better novels, Death on the Nile has all the hallmarks of a prestige, international movie, with its glamorous Nile location, its glittering array of stars, and its lead character, recognised the world over. In Ustinov’s hands, Poirot is by turns tetchy, amused, officious, arrogant, playful, and generous. Given all that, it’s actually a less mannered performance than Finney’s, with Ustinov relaxing in the role for long stretches – particularly in the movie’s rather long-winded first hour – and providing some much-needed humour when the story requires it. The traditional speech where he reveals the murderer is delivered with a nice mix of gravitas and sadness, making him less the avenging angel of some interpretations and more of a weary observer of human weaknesses. It’s an astute performance, and one he was able to repeat in two further big screen outings – Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment With Death (1988) – as well as three made for TV movies.

The rest of the cast all get their moments to shine, but some have less to do than others (Finch is probably given the least to do, but it’s unsurprising as his character is there mainly to provide Rosalie with a romantic attachment). Davis and Smith make for a great double act, and even now it’s amazing to see the way in which Smith pulls Davis about without a moment’s hesitation. Farrow plays the vengeful ex-fiancée to the hilt while supposedly star-crossed newlyweds Chiles and MacCorkindale provide less than convincing performances, she being unable to match her facial expressions to the emotion required, and he being unable to manage any facial expressions. Niven has the thankless task of playing baffled foil to the great detective, while it’s Lansbury who steals the movie out from everyone with her portrayal of an ageing authoress with sex on the brain and a more than passing interest in the bar (she makes for a great lush).

With all the emphasis on its cast, the storyline and plotting take a bit of a back seat, despite being played out for nearly two hours before Poirot gathers everyone together for the “big reveal”. Events occur that might be important, others prove to be red herrings, and one attempted murder at a temple is quickly forgotten about until the end, when the perpetrator is revealed. Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay takes the bulk of Christie’s novel and puts it up there for all to see but in the process drags out the running time. A case in point is the long stretch in the second hour where Poirot challenges the other passengers with his versions of how each one could have committed the murder. They’re all of a similar nature and some judicious pruning at this stage would have been more effective; just one or two “recreations” would have sufficed for the audience to get the picture.

In the director’s chair, Guillermin coaxes good performances from his cast, and keeps the audience guessing throughout as to whether or not they’ve seen or heard something important or not (though chances are they have – it’s that kind of adaptation). Having made the disastrous King Kong (1976) remake, it’s good to see him assemble the cast, script, locations and photography to such good effect, giving the movie a light, airy visual style that offsets the seriousness of the storyline and keeps it continually entertaining.

Rating: 8/10 – its length notwithstanding, Death on the Nile is an above par Christie adaptation, with a strong cast abetted by confident direction and beautiful location work; a good mystery too, with an ending that’s way more downbeat than anyone would ever expect.

Stray Bullet (2010)

30 Sunday Mar 2014

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1976, Family ties, Georges Hachem, Hind Taher, Lebanon, Marriage, Nadine Labaki, Noha, Review, Revolution, Takla Chamoun, War

Original title: Rsasa taycheh

D: Georges Hachem / 75m

Cast: Nadine Labaki, Takla Chamoun, Hind Taher, Badih Bou Chakra, Rodrigue Sleiman, Nazih Youssef, Patricia Nammour, Pauline Haddad, Nasri Sayegh, Joelle Hannah, Lamia Merhi

Set in Palestine at summer’s end in 1976, Stray Bullet examines the increasing tensions that arise a fortnight before Noha (Labaki) is due to marry Jean (Youssef). Noha is unsure if she wants to go through with the wedding; talking to her friend Wadad (Nammour), it becomes clear that Noha still has feelings for Joseph (Sleiman), the man she was seeing up until three years ago. She tells her friend that she has arranged to meet Joseph, but she doesn’t know if her feelings for him are strong enough to convince her to cancel the wedding. Confused about her own emotions, and unsure of how Joseph feels about her, Noha goes ahead with the meeting already aware that her family will not agree to her seeing Joseph, and that if they find out it will cause a rift between herself and her brother Assaf (Chakra).

Noha meets Joseph and they drive out into the nearby countryside. They talk about how they feel but Noha is disappointed with Joseph’s reactions and gets out of the car. She walks out of sight of Joseph and finds herself witness to a female revolutionary murdering someone tied up in a sack. Joseph appears having heard the shot. While Noha remains in hiding, Joseph is taken away by the revolutionary’s men. Left with no other option, Noha walks back home.

Later that evening, Noha, her mother (Taher), and her older sister Leila (Chamoun) attend a pre-wedding get together at her brother’s. Jean is there too, along with his mother, while the female revolutionary Noha saw earlier, Alexandra (Haddad), is also there (though it’s never made clear how she fits into the family dynamic). There follows a debate about the war – so recently over and yet so clearly on the verge of being resumed – and further discussion about the wedding. As the evening progresses, circumstances provide Assaf with the knowledge that Noha has seen Joseph. He assaults his sister before throwing her out and telling her she isn’t his sister anymore and he doesn’t know her. As she reaches home, tragedy strikes and Noha’s life is turned completely upside down.

Stray Bullet, with its theme of family loyalty versus personal freedom, is a dour piece, deliberately paced, and gloomily lit. The visual style sits well with Noha’s emotional demeanour and her struggle to come to terms with her own feelings. The conflict she feels towards Joseph highlights the way in which she also feels estranged from everyone else around her, particularly her sister, who being older and still unmarried, is who she fears she will become if she doesn’t marry. Noha wants to get married and avoid becoming like Leila, but at the same time she has no feelings for Jean. Family pressure has got her this far, to a point where if she doesn’t act, it will be too late. But which is the worst option: to be married to someone she doesn’t love, or to remain single and unloved by anyone else?

Labaki is a strong screen presence and convincingly portrays Noha as a woman determined to find her own path in life and not the one her family thinks she should take. Noha is wilful, at times scornful, of her sister and mother’s concerns about her commitment to the marriage, and Labaki’s performance is a fierce exercise in emotional warfare, burying Noha’s vulnerability so that she can survive the battle she knows is ahead of her. The moment when Noha rails against Assaf is a short but gripping one, and in that moment, Labaki gives voice to all the pain and insecurity that Noha has been keeping in check for so long. It’s a stand-out moment, and a mesmerising one thanks to Labaki’s committed performance.

Director Hachem has assembled a fine cast, and his script – while at first glance a little predictable – gives everyone plenty to do, even in the smaller roles. Chamoun is particularly good as Noha’s spinster sister and the monologue she gives detailing the failure of her engagement is etched with deep-rooted regret and self-pity. Hachem also makes good use of close-ups, cutting in tight on the characters’ faces, leaving nothing to the audience’s imagination as to how these people are feeling, and how it’s all affecting them. Anger, disappointment, expectations, loss, distress, rage – all these and more are clearly visible. The undercurrents can that affect family life are highlighted with unflinching directness. As a result, the movie’s coda is nothing more than devastating.

Rating: 8/10 – a short but powerfully realised movie that lingers in the memory thanks to good performances and a straightforward visual style; with clear direction and a streamlined, character-driven script, Stray Bullet is a poignant, rewarding experience.

Better Living Through Chemistry (2014)

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Affair, Control freak, Cycling, David Posamentier, Drugs, Geoff Moore, Michelle Monaghan, Olivia Wilde, Pharmacist, Pharmacy, Prescriptions, Review, Sam Rockwell, Unhappy marriage

D: Geoff Moore, David Posamentier / 91m

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Schwartz, Ken Howard, Harrison Holzer, Ray Liotta, Jane Fonda

Another slice of American small-town life, Better Living Through Chemistry introduces us to pharmacist Doug Varney (Rockwell). Doug is married to Kara (Monaghan) and they have a twelve year old son, Ethan (Holzer). Kara is too absorbed in her work as a fitness instructor to pay Doug much attention and they haven’t had sex for ages, while their son is getting into trouble at school. At work, Doug has just taken over his father-in-law’s pharmacy business but is dismayed to find the sign isn’t changing from Bishop’s Pharmacy to Varney’s Pharmacy. Browbeaten and ignored by the people closest to him, Doug continually finds it difficult to stand up for himself, or make any lasting changes in his life. Seeing no way out of his predicament, he coasts along resignedly… until he meets Elizabeth (Wilde).

Elizabeth has recently moved to town with her husband, Jack (Liotta). She takes a lot of pills and drinks a lot of alcohol and tells Doug about her troubled marriage. They begin an affair, during which Doug takes one of Elizabeth’s pills, the first time he’s ever taken any drug, prescribed or otherwise. Gaining a liking for how drugs can make him feel, Doug begins to make his own, mixing various pills in order to maintain and then boost the wellbeing he’s experiencing. The drugs boost his confidence, and this in turn, helps him address matters at home. He reconnects with Ethan, and devises a plan to beat Kara in the annual cycling race she has dominated for five of the last six years. And as well as juggling work, his home life, and his affair with Elizabeth, Doug also has to deal with a routine investigation by DEA agent Carp (Butz), that might uncover his misuse of his stock.

Doug and Elizabeth’s affair becomes more serious and they plan to leave town together, but Elizabeth has signed a pre-nuptual agreement, and Doug will lose what little he has in a divorce. They decide to bump off Jack by making a slight change to his prescription. Elizabeth leaves town to establish an alibi, and Doug arranges for Jack’s medication to be delivered by assistant Noah (Schwartz). But their plans go awry, and in a way neither of them could have foreseen…

A bittersweet drama with comedic episodes woven into the movie’s fabric, Better Living Through Chemistry is an enjoyable though perilously lightweight movie that benefits tremendously from Rockwell’s confident central performance. There’s little here that’s entirely new but co-writers/directors Moore and Posamentier have done a good job in bringing together and exploiting both the humorous and the dramatic elements. The movie switches focus with ease from scene to scene, offering different moods at different times, but there’s nothing forced or contrived about the way events unfold, or how the characters react to or deal with them.

This is largely due to the script, which (as mentioned above) only occasionally strays towards depth, but does have a few things to say about love and marriage (even if we’ve heard and seen them many times before). Where it does do well is in its ability to upset the audience’s expectations. After the cycling race, Doug and Kara have sex, and it’s the most satisfying sex they’ve had in ages, but it doesn’t presage a sea change in their relationship. Instead, it reinforces Doug’s decision to leave Kara for Elizabeth. It’s this kind of twist in the tale that the movie does so well, and this and some other surprises stop it from being entirely predictable.

Unfortunately, the characters are mostly one-dimensional, especially as written, but thankfully the cast are more than up to the challenge of breathing life into them. Rockwell excels as the mild-mannered pharmacist turned would-be killer for love (you’ll never look at him in the same way again after seeing him in a leotard), and carries the movie effortlessly, making Doug an everyman character we can all sympathise with and root for. Wilde has the glamour role, and carries it off with ease, subverting expectations as to Elizabeth’s motivations at every turn. Monaghan has the least developed role but still manages to make Kara a shade more interesting than if she was just a hard-nosed bitch, and in minor roles, Liotta (providing what amounts to a cameo) and Butz add flavour to the proceedings. The oddest role goes to Jane Fonda who not only narrates the movie as if she’s been witness to everything that happens, but also appears briefly at the end, and is listed as herself in the end credits.

With its well-chosen cast and its carefree approach to recreational drug use, Better Living Through Chemistry is neither a cautionary tale nor an exposé of small town secrets. At its heart it’s a look at one man’s road to emotional self-recovery, and on that level it works splendidly. But without any appreciable depth to proceedings, the movie misses out on being as effective as it could have been.

Rating: 7/10 – a charming movie given life by its well-chosen cast (it’s hard now to envision first choice Jeremy Renner in the role of Doug), Better Living Through Chemistry often comes close to letting itself down but just manages to avoid doing so; an undemanding movie, but still a winning one for all that.

Mr Hublot. (2013)

29 Saturday Mar 2014

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Alexandre Espigares, Animal rescue, Animation, Laurent Witz, Oscar winner, Review, Robot Pet, Short film, Stéphane Halleux, Steampunk

D: Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares / 11m

Winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, Mr Hublot. is the simple tale of a little man with OCD who spends his days checking that the pictures on his walls are aligned correctly, turning his lights on and off a proscribed number of times, while also managing to work from home. He doesn’t appear to go anywhere, or have any hobbies. He does appear to be happy though. One day he hears the screech of brakes outside his apartment. He goes to his balcony and sees that a robot dog has been abandoned on the sidewalk across the street. At first he’s only mildly concerned and returns to his daily routine. Later, when it’s raining, he hears the dog crying. He looks out again and sees the dog cowering from the storm in a cardboard box. The next morning, he looks out and is horrified to see the refuse collectors putting several cardboard boxes into the back of the truck where they are being crushed. He dashes down to the street but is too late: the boxes are all crushed and the refuse truck has moved on. But the dog is still alive. Overjoyed, Mr Hublot takes him back to his apartment.

How the robot dog settles into Mr Hublot’s life and apartment makes up for the rest of the movie, and perhaps it’s a good idea to mention that when they first meet, the dog is a puppy. As he grows it causes all sorts of problems for our bespectacled hero (not least when it comes to watching television), and it’s not long before Mr Hublot is forced to make a difficult decision about the dog’s future.

There is much to admire in Mr Hublot., from the steampunk world he lives in (inspired by the work of Belgian sculptor and artist Stéphane Halleux) to the convincing detail of the apartment he lives in. There are Victorian elements to the set design that offset beautifully the mechanical devices, and the array of implements and machinery adds a commendable layer of authenticity to the surroundings. With such a fully realised world to lose oneself in, it’s good to have Mr Hublot along as our guide, OCD and all (watch for the quandary he has to deal with when leaving the apartment in order to save the dog). With his Gru-like dome of a head, complete with thought counter(?), and aviator-style goggles, Mr Hublot is like an eccentric uncle, one your parents don’t talk about much but who charms you from the moment you meet him.

The robot dog is a great character as well, a lively, attention-seeking puppy that turns into a destructive, immovable adult (but still retains his likeability). As a grown dog a resemblance to the Iron Giant comes to the fore, and his strong metal jaw manages to give the impression that he’s smiling a lot of the time. Even without a name, this robot pet is cute, adorable, annoying, stubborn, infuriating and even more cute the longer he stays with Mr Hublot. It’s an inspired match, pairing a reclusive gentleman with a lively pet (though the effect the dog has on Mr Hublot’s OCD is less pronounced than you might expect). There’s an emotional bond there too, and an entirely credible one at that. It helps to ground some of the movie’s more whimsical moments, and provides the audience with a layer of depth that might otherwise be missing.

Co-director and writer – and first-timer – Laurent Witz has created a character and a world that is enjoyably realistic in its presentation. He’s also taken a predictable storyline – one man and his dog – and managed to include a few surprises along the way, making Mr Hublot. a rewarding experience from beginning to end. If there are to be any more adventures involving Mr Hublot, then they can’t come soon enough.

Rating: 9/10 – a beautifully realised “alternative” world that has been brought to life with amazing attention to detail; with its loveable and endearing central character, Mr Hublot. is a treat for fans of animation everywhere.

Authors Anonymous (2014)

28 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Bestseller, Chris Klein, Dennis Farina, Dylan Walsh, Ellie Kanner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kaley Cuoco, Literary agent, Movie rights, Publishing, Review, Teri Polo, The Great Gatsby, Tom Clancy, Writers group, Writing

D: Ellie Kanner / 93m

Cast: Kaley Cuoco, Chris Klein, Teri Polo, Dylan Walsh, Dennis Farina, Jonathan Bennett, Tricia Helfer, Jonathan Banks, Meagen Fay

Centred around a writer’s group assembled by optometrist Alan Mooney (Walsh), Authors Anonymous takes its aspiring, unpublished authors – Alan, pizza delivery guy Henry (Klein), war veteran John (Farina), Alan’s wife Colette (Polo), and slacker William (Bennett) – and lets the audience watch what happens when Hannah (Cuoco) is introduced into the group. Hannah is the least literary-minded of the group, and as the movie progresses it becomes clear she doesn’t really read, she just writes. When asked by Henry if she’s read The Great Gatsby, he’s amazed to find she’s never heard of it, let alone its author (and his favourite), F. Scott Fitzgerald. William’s favourite author is Charles Bukowski, while John’s is Tom Clancy. Colette is writing a novel called Nyet (Not Yet). Alan likes to think of himself as an ideas man; he carries a dictaphone around with him and records his ideas as and when inspiration strikes – “Idea for Michael Crichton-type novel, members of Antarctic research station attacked by mutant penguins”.

The cat is really thrown amongst the pigeons when Hannah reveals she’s secured an agent. Everyone is mildly happy for her and they do their best not to look too unsupportive, although John, probably the most competitive of the group, feels compelled to mention that an agent is currently reading his novel, Roaring Lion. Things really begin to fracture when Hannah announces that her agent has sold her book and it’s going to be published. Not wishing to be outdone, John goes the route of self-publishing, getting his book printed in China (and with disappointing results). As the harmony within the group begins to unravel ever faster and faster, Hannah does her best to reassure everyone that they are all in it together, but personal ambitions and individual pride prove too strong to overcome.

As Hannah’s good fortune increases, she and Henry embark on a tentative relationship. This helps break his writer’s block, but his thinly disguised literary version of their connection doesn’t fool anyone, and his hopes for his fictional characters are soon shot down. Colette struggles to get her manuscript to an agent, even going so far as to “accidentally” bump into one at her husband’s practice. William contributes very minor corrections each week to the three pages he’s written so far, while John decides to promote his book at the hardware store where his girlfriend, Sigrid (Helfer) works. Each have their own blinkered view of their abilities, each thinks they can be successful in their own right, except for Alan who is happy to support his wife in her career.

Of course, with the exception of Henry, they are all terrible writers (or ideas man). The movie makes a lot of hay out of the level of self-delusion each character brings to the typewriter, but does so with a degree of heart that underpins the humour. Completely lacking in talent they may be, but John, William, Colette and Alan all have hope that their next big idea or writing project is going to be the one that makes them a success; they’re dreamers, and in a kind-hearted way, Authors Anonymous, doesn’t discourage the idea of that dream, even when each of them suffers setback after setback. Even when John’s book signing backfires, it’s only slightly amusing, and as played by the late, great Dennis Farina, John’s disappointment is heartbreaking; he has such confidence in his book he can’t understand why it’s not an instant bestseller.

Colette stands out as the most desperate of the group, her need to succeed infusing everything she does with a barely restrained impetus. Polo plays her as a trophy wife who wants her own identity, even if that identity is too much for her to achieve. Backed by a husband she has few real feelings for beyond those at a superficial level, Colette eventually finds her way in to literary circles but not in the way she expects, while Alan is left to rue the day he created the group.

Aside and relatively uninvolved in all this is Hannah, an outwardly carefree, unpretentious woman who writes what she knows (not a bad maxim to have). But Hannah is more determined than she at first appears, and if the will to succeed at all costs is carefully hidden at the outset, there’s no doubt about it by the movie’s end. Cuoco (best known as Penny in The Big Bang Theory) doesn’t quite nail all the nuances that make Hannah deeper than she seems, and puts too much into making her more wholesome than she needs to be. Her burgeoning relationship with Henry is too sedate to be credible; they’re too respectful of each other, and the passion they show in their writing fails to show up when they’re together. There’s the makings of a good friendship there, and the script by David Congalton pursues that rather than a tumultuous affair.

And therein lies the movie’s unavoidable problem: it’s too nice. In fact, it takes a very pleasant, often languid approach, and maintains that pace and presentation from start to end. There are some moments of drama, but this is first and foremost a slow burn romantic comedy with the romance left out, leaving the audience with a comedy of (literary) manners. It’s amusing in places but not uproariously so, and is at least character driven rather than reliant on gross-out gags and violent pratfalls. It’s also shot in a faux cinéma vérité style – the group is being filmed for a documentary feature – that breaks its own rules frequently, and doesn’t really add anything to the proceedings. The cast are willing participants and Polo and Farina are stand outs, while Klein and Cuoco do their best with characters who skirt perilously close to being a few baby steps away from boring. Kanner directs with an occasional attempt at flair and a liking for low camera angles, and there’s a chirpy, upbeat score courtesy of Jeff Cardoni that should be distracting but fits the action. There’s a few heavy-handed swipes at celebrity culture and pretentious literary types added to the mix but they’re not given enough focus to sway anyone’s attention or already held opinion, and the movie ends with a predictable coda based around the running gag/question of who is Hannah’s favourite author. If you can’t guess who it is, then you haven’t seen enough movies, let alone read enough books.

Rating: 6/10 – a pleasant enough diversion made more engaging every time Farina is on screen; but with very little of note to break things up, or bolder characterisations, Authors Anonymous is like the cinematic equivalent of a synopsis.

Mini-Review: Turbo (2013)

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Animation, David Soren, Dreamworks, Indianapolis 500, Paul Giamatti, Review, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Snails

D: David Soren / 93m

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez

Another offering from Dreamworks, Turbo is the tale of a snail who dreams of being a racer, and despairs of his everyday humdrum life working in a tomato patch. After an extended opening where his boredom is explored a little too thoroughly, Turbo (Reynolds) finds himself transformed after an encounter with the fuel of a dragstrip racing car. Now he has the speed he needs to broaden his horizons and live his dream. With the unlikely help of taco seller Tito (Peña) and a motley crew of fellow snails led by Whiplash (Jackson), Turbo wins a place in the Indianapolis 500. Can he realise his dream? Can he win over his worried, over-protective brother Chet (Giamatti)? Can he defeat the world champion, Guy Gagné (Hader)? The answers are…very predictable.

This is yet another plucky-underdog-overcomes-huge-obstacles-to-realise-his-dream movie, and while entertaining in a superficial way with some great sight gags and one running joke in particular that works well, Turbo never really takes off. The main problem lies in the plotting: there’s nothing here we haven’t seen a hundred times before, and while the cast is an amazing array of talent, the dialogue they’re given borders on the banal. The animation is proficient without having that extra zing that Pixar brings to the mix, or even Dreamworks themselves with movies such as How to Train Your Dragon, and the race itself feels, ironically, pedestrian. A missed opportunity, then, but still miles ahead of Planes and Cars 2.

Rating: 6/10 – while the movie under performs as a whole, there’s still enough here to keep an audience occupied; will fare better with younger children, and if there’s a choice, see it in 3D which adds an extra crispness to the visuals.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Adrien Brody, Boy with Apple, Concierge, Hotel, Lobby boy, M. Gustave, Military police, Painting, Ralph Fiennes, Review, Tony Revoroli, Wes Anderson, Will

D: Wes Anderson / 100m

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson

There’s nothing quite like a Wes Anderson movie, and each one that comes along is a reason to hang out the bunting, crack open the bubbly, and give thanks to the cinematic gods. Even when one of Anderson’s movies isn’t quite as involving or engaging as usual – step forward The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) – it’s still something to treasure, a respite from the formulaic and humdrum offerings of (most) other filmmakers. His last feature, Moonrise Kingdom (2012), was my movie of the year, and quite possibly his best movie yet. That movie is a tough act to follow – will The Grand Budapest Hotel match, or better it?

The movie begins with a young girl approaching a statue in a cemetery in the Middle European city of Lutz. The statue is dedicated to the Author. She begins to read from one of his books. The author (Wilkinson) takes over the narrative and we see him speaking to camera. He begins to tell the story of when he was a young man, and his stay at the titular hotel. Here the narrative is taken over by the author as that younger version of himself. The young author (Law) tells of his meeting with the mysterious owner of the hotel, Mr. Moustafa (Abraham). In turn, Moustafa tells the young author how he came to own the hotel, beginning with his arrival at the hotel in 1932 as a young man called Zero (Revolori), and his tutelage as a lobby boy under the hotel’s concierge, M. Gustave (Fiennes).

M. Gustave has a penchant for the hotel’s elderly female guests, in particular, Madame D. (Swinton). When she leaves the hotel to return to her family home in Lutz, she tells M. Gustave she has a premonition that something will happen to her. Her prediction proves true, and she is found dead, poisoned. M. Gustave and Zero go to pay their respects and find themselves at the reading of the will. With the whole family in attendance, including son Dmitri (Brody), M. Gustave learns he has inherited a valuable painting, Boy with Apple. Dmitri is outraged and threatens M. Gustave that he will never have the painting. So the concierge and the lobby boy steal the painting and hide it back in the Grand Budapest Hotel.

With a missing document holding up the disbursement of the will’s provisions, the sudden disappearance of Madame D.’s servant Serge X (Amalric), and the approaching onset of war with a neighbouring country, M. Gustave finds himself arrested and charged with Madame D.’s murder (and despite a clear lack of evidence to incriminate him). Once in jail, M. Gustave makes friends with some of the inmates, including Ludwig (Keitel), and they propose an escape. With the help of Zero and his girlfriend, baker’s assistant Agatha (Ronan), M. Gustave breaks out of jail, and using the combined talents of several other concierges across the continent, tracks down Serge X who reveals Madame D. made a second will that the family believes is destroyed. There is a copy, though, and it’s hidden in the back of the painting. M. Gustave and Zero must return to the hotel, retrieve the painting, and avoid being killed by Jopling (Dafoe), a psychotic investigator in Dmitri’s employ.

In the world of cinema, nobody does “quirky” or “off the wall” like Anderson, and The Grand Budapest Hotel is no different. With its tale within a tale within a tale within a tale, the movie delights and amuses on so many different levels it’s hard to keep track of them all. There’s the inevitable visual humour – M. Gustave making a run for it when he realises the military police led by Inspector Henckels (Norton) believe he murdered Madame D.; the entrance to Field Post 19; the painting put in place of Boy with Apple – verbal wisecracks and one-liners, and plotting that never falters in its ability to raise a smile. There’s a sure hand at work here, and Anderson steers things with astounding ease, making each development seem as plausible as possible given the layers of absurdity and beautifully judged lunacy that have already gone before.

The world he’s created, with all its foibles and social hierarchies, is beautifully rendered, each scene a glorious testament to Anderson’s exquisite eye for composition and framing, each aspect of the costumes and the set design and the props supporting his vision to the point where this is a completely credible world, even if the events are often incredible. This is a movie that has something going on in almost every frame, and is ravishing to look at on so many levels. The performances are uniformly excellent, from Fiennes’ effortless turn as the exacting lothario M. Gustave, to Revolori’s deadpan incarnation of the younger Moustafa, to the minor roles (watch for the other concierges); everyone is pitch perfect.

So, is The Grand Budapest Hotel as good as, if not better than Moonrise Kingdom? Alas, it’s not, but it’s very close. There are some jarring elements – the modern-day swearing comes across as harsh and out-of-place – and the framing devices (the tales within tales) don’t add anything to the mix, while there’s not quite the heart that infused Moonrise Kingdom and made it so impressive. But this is still one of Anderson’s best, and an absolute must-see nevertheless.

Rating: 8/10 – a beautiful, funny adventure set in a fairytale location and brimming with wit and inventiveness; a chocolate box of goodies that will fill you up but leave you still wanting more.

Mini-Review: Jeune & jolie (2013)

24 Monday Mar 2014

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François Ozon, France, Marine Vacth, Prostitution, Review, Seasons, Sex, Teenager, Virginity

D: François Ozon / 95m

Cast: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling

During the summer holidays, newly-seventeen Isabelle (Vacth) loses her virginity, but the experience has an unexpected and altogether darker effect on her: she becomes a prostitute. She meets men in hotel rooms, in particular Georges (Leysen), an elderly man who treats her with kindness. Naturally, her family, mother Sylvie (Pailhas), stepfather Patrick (Pierrot), and younger brother Victor (Ravat), know nothing of her activities outside school. It’s only when one of her customers dies while they are having sex, that everything comes out.

Jeune & jolie is a compelling movie, made more so by an amazing performance from Vacth, making only her fourth screen appearance. She perfectly captures that awkward period in a teenage girl’s life where the need to be an adult is so overwhelming it can lead to the worst decisions. Whether arguing with her mother, or trying to make a “normal” relationship work, Vacth is always convincing; there’s not a single off-note in her entire performance. She’s ably supported by the rest of the cast – including a quietly emotional performance by Rampling as Georges’ widow – and by a script that refuses to be predictable or pedantic in its approach; it’s a testament to the quality of the screenplay that Isabelle’s reasons for becoming a prostitute are never clearly given, and the audience never feels cheated as a result.

Ozon’s direction is as captivating and intelligent as always, and each character is clearly delineated and given room to grow. The movie takes place over a year and the seasonal changes resonate with the characters and their development – it’s no surprise that Isabelle’s family discover what she’s been doing in winter. Fascinating from start to finish, with a central performance that is incredibly assured, this beguiling movie bears more than one viewing to ensure none of its complexities are missed.

Rating: 8/10 – a riveting movie that makes a virtue of being evasive in its lead character’s motivations; a potent reminder of just how courageous and thought-provoking French cinema can be when it wants to.

Reasonable Doubt (2014)

24 Monday Mar 2014

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Court case, Crime, District attorney, Dominic Cooper, Gloria Reuben, Hit and run, Murder, Parolees, Peter Howitt, Revenge, Review, Samuel L. Jackson, Wife and child

D: Peter P. Croudins / 91m

Cast: Dominic Cooper, Samuel L. Jackson, Gloria Reuben, Ryan Robbins, Erin Karpluk, Dylan Taylor

Pop quiz: You’re a mega-successful district attorney who’s never lost a case. After a night out celebrating another win in court, and having had a few drinks, you still drive home because you’re worried your car might be stolen while you take a taxi. On the way, you hit and injure a man. Do you: a) call for an ambulance using your mobile phone and stay with the man until it arrives? b) call for an ambulance by using a pay phone and then drive off? or c) carry on driving and don’t look back? If you answered b, then give yourself a gold star.

This is what hot shot DA Mitch Brockden (Cooper) does, and inevitably it sets in motion a series of events that ends with his wife, Rachel (Karpluk) and newborn child Ella being put in mortal danger. In between those two events, Mitch gets an uncomfortable case of the guilts. When Clinton Davis (Jackson) is arrested with the injured man – who is now dead – in his car later that evening, Davis’s assertion that he had found the man and was trying to get him to a hospital rings true with Mitch, even though Davis has tools in his car that match the weapons that caused the man’s other injuries. When Davis is charged with the man’s murder, it’s Mitch who gets to prosecute him.

For reasons too tiresome and unlikely to reveal here, Mitch’s estranged step-brother Jimmy (Robbins) testifies at the trial that he saw the hit and run. Davis is freed. Soon after, another man is found dead with similar injuries. Mitch now believes Davis did kill the man he knocked down, and when investigating Detective Kanon (Reuben) mentions other incidents that Davis is connected to, Mitch is convinced of Davis’s guilt. He decides to investigate further, but soon finds that Davis is more dangerous than he expected.

It’s not that the whole scenario of Reasonable Doubt is far-fetched, or that the motivations of both Mitch and Davis are about as convincing as a politician’s probity, nor even that the level of credibility is undermined continually by Cooper’s lacklustre performance – he demonstrates guilt by looking as if his haemorrhoids are playing up – it’s more that no one stopped to take stock of the movie while it was being made and said, “Hold on, isn’t this just the biggest load of rubbish?” If someone had, then perhaps we’d all have been spared this poor excuse for a thriller. As it is, the audience has to endure scene after scene of disjointed dialogue, uncomfortable plot contrivances, woeful acting (Cooper and Reuben are the worst offenders), and such dreadful direction that Peter Howitt’s name is changed in the credits (see above).

It’s always frustrating when movies like this are made. Reasonable Doubt could have been so much better, but the script by Peter A. Dowling comes across as a hastily assembled first draft. There is very little internal logic on display, and what there is is so ridiculous that even if you suspended all credulity you’d still be asking yourself if what you were seeing was really happening. The character of Mitch bears no resemblance to anyone in real life, he makes risky decisions based more on the script’s need for him to do so than any actual self-motivation, and for someone who is so good at his job – so much so that he knows a judge’s decision before he even makes it – he makes one stupid mistake after another, until he ends up arrested for the attempted murder of his step-brother.

And then the movie presents us with it’s most ridiculous and stupid moment: after receiving a call from Davis who tells him he’s going to kill Rachel and Ella, and after he overpowers a police officer, Mitch walks out of the police station without being stopped and while carrying the police officer’s gun! He doesn’t even try to hide it, just walks out with it in his hand! It’s when a script offers this as a development, and no one stops to say “Hold on, isn’t this just the biggest load of complete rubbish?” that you know no one really cares. So why should the audience?

There are – amazingly – worse thrillers out there, but these are mostly low-budget affairs with semi-professional casts and inexperienced directors. Here, there’s a level of conspicuous ability but it’s all for nought. Even Jackson phones in his performance, giving us a less intense, less convincing version of his character from Meeting Evil (2012). You could say that Reasonable Doubt is so bad it’s mesmerising… but that would be a whole other load of rubbish.

Rating: 3/10 – dreadful thriller that insults its own cast as well as the audience; proof if any were needed that some movies should have their productions shut down after day one.

Dick Figures: The Movie (2013)

24 Monday Mar 2014

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Animation, Ben Tuller, Birthday present, Blue, Burrito Island, Car chase, Ed Skudder, Eiffel Tower, Eric Bauza, Explosions, Lord Tourettes, Pink, Raccoon, Red, Review, Shea Logsdon, Sword of Destiny, Zack Keller

D: Ed Skudder, Zack Keller / 73m

Cast: Ed Skudder, Zack Keller, Eric Bauza, Ben Tuller, Shea Logsdon, Mike Nassar, Chad Quandt, Lauren K. Sokolov

If you’ve not seen any of the Dick Figures webisodes – all available to view on YouTube – then don’t worry about watching the movie first. Although there are some references that only fans will get e.g. the poster in Blue’s room for Flame War 4, some of the titles on his bookshelf, and Stacey’s sister, Dick Figures: The Movie works just as well as a stand-alone movie.

Providing Red (Skudder) and Blue (Keller) with an origin story, Dick Figures: The Movie sees our heroes twenty-five years on from their first meeting, and with no change in their circumstances: Red is still a self-absorbed, party hound who’ll try and have sex with almost any female he sees. Blue is still enamoured of Pink (Logsdon), and with her birthday fast approaching, Blue wants to get her the most amazing present ever. He and Red go to local store Ancient Secrets ‘n’ Things where owner Raccoon (Skudder) tells them about the fabled Sword of Destiny, its part in Raccoon’s family history, and how it has been divided into three parts and the parts hidden around the world. Giving them a map to help find the various parts, Red and Blue agree to find and unite the pieces, and provide Pink with the best birthday present ever.

Their journey take them to Japan where they find the hilt of the sword and run into Lord Takagami (Bauza). Takagami also seeks the Sword of Destiny, and after a narrow escape from his ninja-demons, Red and Blue find themselves on a deserted island. Miraculously rescued by blind pilot Captain Crookygrin (Skudder), the pair end up in Paris. There they meet their friend Lord Tourettes (Tuller) who helps them find the second piece of the Sword, the blade, located at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The trail then leads them back to their own hometown and a nearby mountain they’ve never seen before. They find the remaining piece, a jewel, but are ambushed by Lord Takagami and his ninja-demons. Will Red and Blue defeat the evil Lord and his minions? Will Pink get her most amazing birthday present ever? And will Red let Blue plunge to his death into the maw of Ochomuerte?

Fleshing out the two to five minute webisodes into a feature-length movie may have seemed like a risky move but creator Ed Skudder along with co-director and writer Zack Keller have done a great job. Although Red has a minimal character and story arc, Blue is given more of an “upgrade” and he has an emotional arc that suits the storyline. As the two friends set out to retrieve the missing Sword, Red’s selfish behaviour threatens to derail their adventure at (almost) every turn. It’s a mark of Skudder and Keller’s astute writing that even when Red is being the biggest asshole possible, he’s still likeable and fun to watch. Blue’s exasperation with his friend’s behaviour is understandable but there’s still an element of envy that Red can be so “carefree” when Blue feels so much responsibility, and for pretty much everything. Their bromance is entirely credible and anchors the movie when everything else is so gloriously anarchic.

And make no mistake, Dick Figures: The Movie is not your average Disney animation; far from it. Red and Blue’s debut movie is surreal, bizarre, scabrous, scatological, puerile (in places), exciting, captivating, deranged, absurd, outlandish, crazy, disgusting, violent, and so over the top it makes South Park look boring. With this much warped imagination on display, the movie barely stops for breath at any time during its (sadly) brief running time. There is a car chase through the streets of Paris that is as adrenalin-fuelled as anything in a Fast and Furious movie, and a parkour-style chase through a Japanese harbour that is as giddily inventive as anything in recent US animation. It’s obvious that Skudder and Keller know their action movies, and with a finale involving a giant demon, their cult Asian movies as well. And it’s just so damned funny.

Having a bigger budget – as well as allowing the inclusion of the aforementioned action sequences – has also given Skudder et al the room to provide more detailed backgrounds than in the webisodes, play around with different styles of animation, and to include a better level of visual effects (their explosions are so much more, well, explosive). Each character is clearly delineated from the rest, either by colour or physical appearance, and while Skudder contributes most of the vocalisations (thirteen in all), the work of Keller, Bauza and Tuller, all webisode regulars, adds to the richness of the performances.

Standing apart from the crowd, both in terms of content and its look, Dick Figures: The Movie will obviously appeal to fans first, but there’s so much here to entertain even a casual observer, that it would be a major disappointment if the movie didn’t find a wider audience. A second outing for Red and Blue would be something to look forward to indeed.

Rating: 8/10 – an unqualified delight and a must-see for fans of low-budget but distinctive animated story-telling; and despite the often crude humour, a movie with a lot of heart and soul as well.

Fear Island (2009)

23 Sunday Mar 2014

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Aaron Ashmore, Haylie Duff, Horror, Michael Storey, Mystery, Review, Serial killer, Summer vacation, Teens

D: Michael Storey / 95m

Cast: Aaron Ashmore, Haylie Duff, Lucy Hale, Kyle Schmid, Anne Marie DeLuise, Martin Cummins, Jacob Blair, Jessica Harmon, Jim Thorburn

Told in flashback by the lone survivor of a group of teens spending one last summer vacation together, and who find themselves at the mercy of a killer, Fear Island is a mystery/thriller/horror movie that tries to throw in more twists than a Chubby Checker dance competition. When Jenna (Duff) is found covered in blood and clutching a knife she is immediately arrested by Detective Armory (Cummins). Before he can bully a confession from her, police psychologist Dr Chalice (DeLuise) takes charge, and slowly, Jenna – who has very little memory of what took place – begins to tell the story of what happened on the island.

As Jenna recalls the events that led to the deaths of her friends, it looks at first as if there is a killer on the island with them, but then it appears that the killer may be one of the group – but who? A further mystery unfolds surrounding the death of another girl the year before – were the friends involved, and are they being targeted because of it? And is Jenna telling the truth about what happened, or is she warping the story to avoid incriminating herself?

There’s a moment during Fear Island when one of the characters goes in search of her dog – alone – in the woods – by herself. As this hoary old device is trotted out for the four billionth time, the full extent of the movie’s reliance on horror cliches becomes all too apparent. As well as the brooding member of the group who is the initial suspect, through to the ripped devil-may-care lothario who cares only about himself, Fear Island allows itself the merest nod to adequate characterisation, throws in a few red herrings, and tries to make its mystery more difficult to unravel than it actually is. The scenes with Jenna, Dr Chalice and Detective Armory are risible, and as a result, Duff struggles to maintain any continuity of tone or emotional distress. The rest of the cast fare equally as badly, with only Ashmore providing a performance that keeps itself a few notches above adequate.

The island location is underused, and any sense of terror is undermined by director Storey’s inability to create tension or increasing dread. The script is largely to blame, but the execution is so ham-fisted it just makes matters worse. The action is often poorly framed and the editing seems intent on removing all tension or thrills from the murder sequences. By the movie’s end, it’s as much a relief for the audience as it must have been for the cast and crew when filming was completed.

Rating: 3/10 – an underwhelming combination of I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Usual Suspects, Fear Island fails to generate any excitement at any stage of the proceedings; one for single location murder mystery enthusiasts only.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Pressed (2011)

23 Sunday Mar 2014

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Bankruptcy, Crime, Jeffrey Ballard, Justin Donnelly, Luke Goss, Michael Eklund, Review, Teens, Tyler Johnston

D: Justin Donnelly / 105m

Cast: Luke Goss, Tyler Johnston, Jeffrey Ballard, Michael Eklund, Erica Carroll, Craig Stanghetta

When affluent sales executive Brian (Goss) is let go from his job, the childhood trauma he experienced when his father had to declare himself bankrupt, stops him from telling his wife Leanne (Carroll), and soon puts him on the path to contemplating desperate measures. These arise from a chance encounter with an old schoolmate, Jimmy (Eklund). Jimmy persuades Brian to go in with him on a quick fire money-making scheme that – so Brian believes – will enable him to stave off his immediate financial problems and also give him time to find another job. Meanwhile, teen Jesse (Johnston) is looking to get out of town and make something of his life. He seeks help from his friend Sam (Ballard). Soon enough, Jesse and Brian cross paths and find their lives are on the line, as Jimmy’s get-rich-quick scheme goes horribly wrong for both of them.

Written and directed by first-timer Donnelly, Pressed benefits most from a committed performance by Goss, and by Donnelly’s attempts to try something different in an already over-stuffed genre. At first, Goss plays Brian as a naive bystander in his own life, and while this isn’t necessarily the first description you’d apply to an actor like Goss, he pulls off these early scenes with sweaty conviction. As the movie continues and he has to “man up”, Goss shows Brian’s transition from mild-mannered businessman to determined protagonist with clarity and conviction.

In the director’s chair, Donnelly orchestrates with a (largely) sure hand, allowing his script to play out unhurriedly, and with a greater focus on characterisation than is usual for this type of movie. A strong case in point is the character of Jimmy, played with brio by Eklund. Jimmy is a perfect example of how a stereotypical role can be imbued with enough additional nuances to overcome any expected deficiencies. When Eklund is on screen, his portrayal is so effective you can’t keep your eyes off him.

Where Donnelly does falter is with the movie’s timescale. When Brian arrives home after being laid off, Leanne and their young son (Ethan Sawyer) are going on holiday for a week. As the story unfolds it’s clear that events are happening after this period should be up, and yet they don’t return home. Also, Brian has his car repossessed within a couple of days of being let go – is that really likely? Against this, Donnelly’s script does avoid the usual cliches, and even finds time for Brian to provide Jesse with some fatherly advice, albeit in the unlikeliest of circumstances. And the final scenes allow for a pleasing ambiguity.

As the two teens caught up in Brian’s problems, Johnston and Ballard provide strong performances. Johnston imbues Jesse with a vulnerability that is never at odds with his outwardly tough manner, and is a name to watch out for (though he does have extensive experience in television). Ballard acquits himself with equal distinction, taking a less showy character in comparison to Jesse, but making him just as memorable.

The action, when it happens, is well choreographed, and the photography by Norm Li – while occasionally lax in terms of framing – has a gritty feel to it, matching the increasingly fervid atmosphere. The final showdown is tenser than expected, and doesn’t cheat the viewer, giving Brian the chance to make things right on more than a personal level, and convincingly draw the movie to an end.

Rating: 6/10 – the too familiar mise-en-scene detracts from the all-round effectiveness of Donnelly’s debut but it maintains a grim credibility thanks largely to Goss’s well-judged performance; careful plotting gives it an edge over many of its contemporaries.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Mini-Review: Trap Street (2013)

21 Friday Mar 2014

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China, Detainment, Disappearances, Domestic terrorism, Nanjing, Review, Vivian Qu, Wenchao He, Yulai Lu

D: Vivian Qu / 93m

Cast: Yulai Lu, Wenchao He, Yong Hou, Xiaofei Zhao, Tiejian Liu, Xinghong Li

One of the few independent Chinese films to be made last year – and yet to be seen by China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (the movie industry’s governing body) – Trap Street starts off as an agreeable and potentially predictable romantic drama, as Qiuming (Lu) meets Lifen (He) and they begin a relationship. Lifen, though, is often gone for days at a time and acts mysteriously as well. Eventually, Qiuming discovers that Lifen works at a secret government laboratory, and the real idea behind the movie begins to show itself. When a pair of USB sticks that belong where Lifen works, end up in Qiuming’s hands for a while, the authorities react by keeping Lifen in a hotel for a couple of days and grilling him over it. Despite not accessing the USB sticks, the authorities refuse to believe he’s left them unaccessed or uncopied. Can Qiuming convince them of his innocence, or will he be arrested and charged with domestic terrorism?

This situation – an individual being detained by the police for 2-3 days without being charged or even formally arrested, and then let go – is increasingly common in modern-day China, and even happened to a friend of one of the crew members shortly after the movie was made. Why this happens so often no-one knows, but it makes for an interesting and absorbing movie, and shows the aftermath of denial and paranoia that all too often accompanies the detainment. Along with a pertinent assessment of the various ways technology allows us to interact with each other on a variety of emotional levels, Trap Street is an intelligent, thought-provoking movie that holds a mirror up to contemporary Chinese culture, and shows that, despite recent openings up to Western influences, there is still a very strict political machine in place that governs people’s lives. Vivian Qu, whose first feature this is, directs with skill and an eye for off-kilter framings that accentuate the odd things taking place. On this evidence, any future movies she chooses to make will be well worth watching.

Rating: 8/10 – a confident approach to the material keeps the viewer engrossed from beginning to end; good performances and an incisive script make Trap Street well worth checking out.

Filth and Wisdom (2008)

21 Friday Mar 2014

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Dancing, Dom, Eugene Hutz, Gogol Bordello, Holly Weston, London, Love, Madonna, Relationships, Review, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Graham, Vicky McClure

D: Madonna / 80m

Cast: Eugene Hutz, Holly Weston, Vicky McClure, Richard E. Grant, Inder Manocha, Elliot Levey, Francesca Kingdon, Clare Wilkie, Stephen Graham, Hannah Walters, Shobu Kapoor

A somewhat philosophically inclined comedy surrounding three flatmates, A.K. (Hutz), Holly (Weston) and Juliette (McClure), Filth and Wisdom charts their attempts to find love, job fulfilment, and to make sense of their lives.

A.K. works as a dom (a male dominatrix), while Holly is a struggling dancer, and Juliette works in a chemist’s. All three of them are floundering through life, trying to get ahead but never getting further than where they are. When he isn’t abusing middle-aged men for money, A.K. is a furrow-browed philosopher, keen to point out the futilities of life or the conundrums of existence as he sees them. Hutz – the lead singer of gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello – spends most of the movie spouting apothegms and cod-literate sayings to camera. Some of these sayings strive for importance and/or relevance to the events happening elsewhere in the movie but they have a poor success rate.

Holly attends regular dance lessons but seems to be getting no further in her ambition to be a dancer. She visits a club and is offered a job there by the owner, Harry Beechman (Graham). She agrees to audition only to find the job is pole dancing. Terrible at it at first, she is taken under the wing of Francine (Kingdon), and soon becomes more confident.

Meanwhile, Juliette is treading water at the chemists’s, run by Sardeep (Manocher). She steals pills off the shelves when he’s not looking though she doesn’t seem to have a drug problem; she’s just bored and wants to do something more meaningful. She has a running battle with Sardeep over which charity collection box is more deserving: starving Africans or starving Asians. All the while she is unaware that Sardeep – who is married – is attracted to her.

Downstairs from the three flatmates lives blind Professor Flynn (Grant). A.K. gets his groceries for him and spends time with him. Flynn is a melancholy figure surrounded by books he can no longer read. As the movie progresses he becomes more and more withdrawn.

Filth and Wisdom drew some unfavourable criticism when it was first released, and to be fair some of it is justifiable. A.K. is just the kind of waffle-spouting poseur you’d cross the road to avoid. This isn’t Hutz’s fault, it’s just the way the character’s written. In fact, Hutz does well enough to create a modestly well-rounded character when he’s interacting with others, especially in his scenes with Professor Flynn. Otherwise, when he’s talking to camera you just wish he’d get it over with.

Given roughly equal screen time, Weston and McClure fare better for having more straightforward roles, and both actresses shine. Grant’s role is a little more complex but Professor Flynn is a secondary character, and once the script reaches a certain point, his storyline is discontinued. The supporting cast, particularly Manocher, fare equally well, and there’s a lovely scene between Holly and Professor Flynn at a restaurant, but what scuppers Filth and Wisdom is its lack of focus from one scene to the next. When Hutz is on screen it’s almost as if he’s acting in another movie entirely, and some scenes have a Seventies feel to them, as if Madonna’s main point of reference for filming in the UK was sitcoms from that era, such as Man About the House or Love Thy Neighbour; for such a cosmopolitan city, London comes across as parochial and insular.

And then there is the final scene. It takes place at a Gogol Bordello concert and unites all the main characters, including a suddenly much happier Professor Flynn. As if that isn’t jarring enough, there’s been no previous indication that A.K. is in a band at all. Still, maybe it was a contractual obligation for Hutz appearing in the movie.

Filth and Wisdom isn’t quite as bad as some people would have it, but it does fall down far too often for its own good (although it does always get back up on its feet and try again – you can’t fault it for that). Madonna, making her directorial debut, contributes some haphazard direction, while the script, which she co-wrote with Dan Cadan, shouldn’t have tried to sum up the trials and tribulations of daily life as it does. The photography is dull, reflecting the environs in which it was shot, and the music – for a Madonna movie – isn’t entirely memorable. However, the movie does manage to hold the viewer’s attention and there are far worse movies you could spend eighty minutes watching.

Rating: 5/10 – not bad, but not good, and too casual in its set up, Filth and Wisdom doesn’t always make as much sense as it thinks it does; with little wisdom (and even less filth) on display, the movie ends up failing to convince.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Recreator (2012)

21 Friday Mar 2014

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Alexander Nifong, Clones, DNA, Experiment, Gregory Orr, Jamal Mallory-McCree, Mad scientist, Murder, Review, Stella Maeve

aka Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles

D: Gregory Orr / 90m

Cast: Stella Maeve, Alexander Nifong, Jamal Mallory-McCree, John de Lancie, Laura Moss

A trio of teens, Tracy (Maeve), Craig (Nifong) and Derek (Mallory-McCree), arrive at lake-bound Brewster Island for a camping trip. They spy a house above the treelike and when Tracy decides she’d rather the bathroom than go in the woods, she unwittingly sets in motion events that will put all their lives in danger. That night there is a terrible storm, complete with lightning, and the trio decide to throw all aims of camping out of the tent and take refuge in the house. The next morning the owners (de Lancie, Moss) return from the mainland. When they realise someone has been in their house, they react in a totally unexpected way: they coerce the trio into helping them bury the real owners – who they resemble exactly.

At this stage of the movie the plot introduces the duplicates of Tracy, Craig and Derek, and becomes a battle of wills between the two trios. The duplicates – or clones – are stronger, more intelligent and above all, unscrupulous; they plan to kill the original trio as soon as possible. Initially unaware of this, Tracy, Craig and Derek are still mistrustful of the whole situation, but seem more content to argue amongst themselves about what to do. In the end, Derek leaves the island to get help. While he’s gone, Tracy’s clone begins to develop feelings for Craig, while Craig’s clone attempts to seduce Tracy. And all the while, Tracy and Craig try to work out why all this is happening…

Recreator begins well, with a couple of eerie, atmospheric sequences involving the house’s owners, but then fails to make its trio of original protagonists even remotely likeable. Derek is arrogant, Tracy is self-absorbed, and Craig is wetter than water. When their clones show up it’s almost a relief, as they truly are “better” than the real thing. However, this is probably to allow for the dramatic aspects of the story to be heightened. We know the clones are inherently bad, and we know that there will be a showdown at the end, and we know that there will be a large degree of proselytising from the clones about the world needing them more than the originals, and we also know that Tracy and Craig will discover the reason why all this is happening… but… will it be worth sticking around to find out?

The answer is yes and no. Writer/director Orr has hit on a great idea for a movie, but in putting it all together, he’s taken a scattershot approach to his material. The relationships appear culled from an indie movie, the sci-fi elements from any number of Fifties’ mad scientist outings, and the overall feel is like watching any of the first four Friday the 13th movies but without the gratuitous gore or semi-nudity. The dialogue varies too, from faux-existential to banal to (possibly) semi-improvised. Orr’s direction too is often off-balance, as if the mix of styles is problematical for him: some scenes are played as sinister when they should be more straightforwardly dramatic, while others have a latent humour that passes by either unacknowledged or under-utilised.

On the plus side, Maeve, Nifong and Mallory-McCree do well with roles that require them to play two sides of the same personality, and the necessary split-screen work is well done, particularly in a lake-set scene involving both Tracys. The raison d’être for everything is laid out well, and while the latter day mechanics of it are a bit suspect – they involve a cesspit of all things – the lake bound setting keeps the action believably contained. The music by Jeff Carruthers and Rick Conrad is effective, and David Tumblety’s photography, while not striking, does create a distinctive mood that fits with the storyline. Even with the caveats mentioned above, Recreator is mostly engaging and even thought-provoking on occasion.

The movie ends with the legend To be continued. If Orr gets a better grip on his ideas and material, then a sequel will be something to look forward to.

Rating: 6/10 – problems with the script knock this movie down a point; however, all problems aside, there’s enough here to warrant more than a cursory glance.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

RoboCop (2014)

20 Thursday Mar 2014

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Abbie Cornish, Detroit, ED-209, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Omnicorp, Remake, Review, Robot, Robotics, Samuel L. Jackson

D: José Padilha / 117m

Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Harley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Samuel L. Jackson, Aimee Garcia, Douglas Urbanski, John Paul Ruttan, Patrick Garrow, Zach Grenier

With the Eighties being increasingly plundered for material that can be remade, rebooted or re-imagined, the likelihood of a new RoboCop movie was always a strong possibility. Now that it’s here, it’s inevitable that the comparisons between this version and Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 original are appearing thick and fast, with equally inevitable results: it’s not the same (shock! horror!).

From the black suit to the addition of a wife and child, RoboCop is – and was always going to be – a different beast from its predecessor(s) (let’s not even mention the animated and live action TV series’). Some things remain the same though. Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is still a Detroit cop, working with his partner, Jack Lewis (Williams) to bring down crime boss Antoine Vallon (Garrow). When the pair get too close, Lewis is wounded in a shootout and Murphy is subsequently blown up outside his home. With his life hanging in the balance, OmniCorp boss Raymond Sellars (Keaton) offers his wife Clara (Cornish) a way to keep Alex alive: sign up to their research programme, headed by Dr Norton (Oldman).

Three months later, Alex is restored to waking consciousness to find himself encased in a metal suit and horrified by what is happening to him. After an escape attempt fails he begins to accept the reality of his situation and works with Norton to make the best of things and, more importantly, find his way back to Clara and his son David (Ruttan). With a projected annual return of $600 billion if their robot police programme is a success – and if a bill banning robot police officers is repealed by the Senate – OmniCorp is determined not to let Alex’s individuality ruin their investment. They take steps to control his emotional and judgmental responses, but reckon without his love for his family – and his need for revenge on Vallon – overriding their protocols. Soon, Alex begins to understand the depth of Sellars’ duplicity, and with his partner’s help, sets out to – yes, you’ve guessed it – bring Sellars to justice.

Although Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner – the screenwriters of the 1987 version – are credited alongside newbie Josh Zetumer, little remains from their script except various names, the Detroit location, and the movie’s basic structure. It’s not a bad (exo-) skeleton to hang things on and ensures the movie doesn’t stray too far from the (in-built) audience’s expectations. The major difference here is that Alex isn’t killed but is critically injured, making his memories and emotions a much more potent angle to explore… except the movie doesn’t. With the exception of a brief (read: cut short in the editing process) scene where Alex goes home for the first time as RoboCop, there’s no real exploration of what Alex might be feeling beyond having Kinnaman look aggrieved for a few moments in-between the action elements.

There’s also a lot of talking. RoboCop may be the first action movie in a long time to spend so much of its screen time having its secondary characters talk so often, and to so little effect. Jackson ramps it up as a thinly disguised version of Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, spouting diatribes as only he can, and providing the movie with its thinly disguised attack on corporate America and the media as devious bedfellows (Jackson also gets to say m*thaf*cka, so some things are all right with the world). And then there’s the continual back-and-forth between Sellars and Norton where Norton voices a concern or a negative opinion, and Sellars just waffles a few sentences and Norton goes away appeased. (I swear I have no idea what Michael Keaton is saying in those scenes.)

With all this dialogue and by-the-numbers plotting, how then do the action scenes fare? Well, one first-person shooter sequence aside (which sticks out like a sore thumb), RoboCop delivers fairly effective if unexceptional action beats until it wimps out altogether and gives us one of the most ineffectual showdowns in action cinema history (look for the well-armed guard who doesn’t fire a shot – no, look for him: once RoboCop appears he all but vanishes). And if I have to make one comparison only between this version and the 1987 movie, it’s that Vallon is a poor, practically disposable villain when set against Clarence Boddicker.

The cast perform efficiently enough and Kinnaman makes for a strong-jawed hero, while Oldman does his best with a character whose motivations change from scene to scene (and sometimes within them). Keaton underplays Sellars and only occasionally shows off the nervous energy that made him so exciting to watch earlier on in his career, and Baruchel gets to play the annoying marketing character you hope gets killed by an ED-209. As Clara, Cornish has little to do but look angry or upset from the sidelines, and Jean-Baptiste (so brilliant in Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies) is here reduced to treading water until her character is no longer required by the narrative.

Padilha directs with an efficiency and a drive that never quite translates into sustained tension, and there are too many filler shots of RoboCop zooming through the streets of Detroit on his customised motorbike. That said, there are things to like: Lula Carvalho’s steel-burnished photography; Murphy’s treatment of hired mercenary Mattox (Haley) after a training exercise; a short scene where a man with robotic hands plays the guitar; Mattox’s choice of music during Murphy’s first training session (plus Norton’s bemused response); the seamless special effects, a predictably vast improvement on 1987; and the movie’s best scene by far: the moment when Murphy discovers just how much of himself fills the suit.

Ultimately, what’s missing from RoboCop is a clear attempt at relating the emotional trauma of being a man in a “tin suit”. Without it, RoboCop doesn’t engage in the way it should do, and many scenes pass by without having any meaningful effect on the audience. It makes for frustrating viewing, and robs the movie of any real drama; sadly, it all ends up being just too impersonal.

Rating: 6/10 – a tidier script would have helped but this is by no means a disaster; a shaky start to a new series of movies(?) but enjoyable enough despite its flaws.

The Wendell Baker Story (2005)

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

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Andrew Wilson, Eva Mendes, Ex-con, Fake driving licences, Harry Dean Stanton, Illegal immigrants, Luke Wilson, OAPs, Owen Wilson, Pension scam, Retirement home, Review, Seymour Cassel, Shady Grove

D: Andrew Wilson, Luke Wilson / 99m

Cast: Luke Wilson, Eva Mendes, Seymour Cassel, Harry Dean Stanton, Owen Wilson, Eddie Griffin, Jacob Vargas, Kris Kristofferson, Will Ferrell

The less successful of the Wilson brothers, Luke has had a patchy career in comparison with his older, A-list sibling Owen, but he’s often provided audiences with more enjoyable offerings – Henry Poole Is Here vs Drillbit Taylor anyone? – even if they haven’t had the same box office success. In The Wendell Baker Story, Luke enlists his brother’s help in telling the story of a man who sells counterfeit driving licences to illegal immigrants before a spell in jail shows him his true calling in life: working in the hotel industry. But when he’s finally paroled, he finds himself working at a retirement home instead.

The home, Shady Grove, is run by Neil King (Owen Wilson). King isn’t interested in providing proper care for the residents, and is running a scam that he thinks Wendell will be the perfect patsy for if it comes to light (the scam involves him falsifying residents’ being there but still claiming their pensions and selling their medication on the black market). As Wendell gets to know everyone better, including Boyd Fullbright (Cassel) and Skip Summers (Stanton), he begins to realise just how bad things are at Shady Grove. With the help of reclusive resident Nasher (Kristofferson), and ex-associate from his driving licence days, Reyes (Vargas), Wendell, Boyd and Skip travel to King’s mother’s home – where the supposed “residents” are actually being hidden – to rescue them and so expose King’s scheme.

Alongside this, Wendell is trying to win back the love of his life, Doreen (Mendes). They were together before he went to prison but while he was inside, Doreen moved on and is now seeing a supermarket owner, Dave (Ferrell). Wendell makes a couple of clumsy attempts to win her back but he doesn’t reckon on just how disillusioned Doreen is with him, even if he is trying to get his life back on track.

Wendell himself is an endearing character, Wilson’s boyish charm going a long way to making the audience like him. He has an innate goodness that anyone can see a mile off, and a small measure of naiveté to match. He gets along with anyone and is able to mend bridges between people (though the prison scene where he gets the Aryans and the Crips to gather in a group hug is a little too far-fetched). But as much as Wendell is a nice guy he’s also a little dull, and Wilson doesn’t add much else to the mix to make him more interesting. That’s left to Cassel and Stanton who make each scene they’re in that much more watchable, especially when they chat up two young women at a store; they inhabit their roles in a way that Wilson doesn’t. The older Wilson is the same, putting in only half a performance and coasting his way through the movie, leaving King looking less like a serious adversary and more like an unconvincing playground bully.

However, the fault for all this lies squarely at the feet of Luke Wilson. As the movie’s writer, star and co-director (with the eldest Wilson brother), Luke fumbles the ball in terms of characterisation and story. Everything is done with a light touch, as if the idea of adding some depth to the movie was anathema, or might spoil the overall effect. While this doesn’t make for a bad movie per se, it does undermine its potential; it’s still enjoyable on a superficial what-you-see-is-what-you-get level, but viewers will probably have seen many other similar movies already. And here, familiarity comes very close to breeding apathy rather than contempt.

But somehow, despite all this, The Wendell Baker Story does raise more smiles than groans, and Wilson’s goofy demeanour does endear. The by-the-numbers plot still works somehow, and the underlying message – that our elders should be treated with respect and as still-valuable members of society – is put across without too much sermonising. Cassel and Stanton are a pleasure to watch (Stanton should do more comedy while he can), there’s a couple of good sight gags, and Ferrell contributes a great cameo.

Rating: 5/10 – in school grade terms, The Wendell Baker Story earns a C- and a recommendation to do better; lacklustre for the most part but amusing enough to save it from being a complete dud.

Springsteen & I (2013)

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

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"I'll be ur Courteney Cox", Baillie Walsh, Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen, Concert footage, Elvis, Fans, Jojo, Music, Orange wristband, Review, The E Street Band, Videos

D: Baillie Walsh / 124m

A documentary with a difference, Springsteen & I isn’t a straightforward trawl through the life and triumphs of the man they call The Boss, but a kind of accidental biography, a look back over his life, certainly, but at a remove, and as seen through the eyes of his fans (and one non-fan). It’s a novel approach, and one that conveniently circumvents any danger of the intended subject deciding he or she doesn’t want anything to do with the project (though here, Springsteen has generously allowed previously unseen live footage to be used).

So instead of The Boss talking about the ups and downs of his forty-year plus career, we get The Boss’s fans talking about their ups and downs in relation to him over the course of that career. In particular, we hear from three people who have shared the limelight with Bruce: a young woman who joined him on stage after waving a banner that stated “I’ll be ur Courteney Cox” (a reference to Cox’s appearing in the Dancing in the Dark video); an Elvis impersonator who sang Hound Dog with Bruce live on stage (and cheekily tried to add Blue Suede Shoes before realising he’d outstayed his welcome); and a musician who jammed with Bruce on a New York street. All three “collaborations” were filmed and it’s these instances that perhaps give the best insight into the man himself. Here, Springsteen comes across as unselfish, at ease with both his personal and professional image, genuinely supportive of others, and – this won’t be the first time it’s been mentioned – a really nice guy.

The rest of the movie follows a similar line, with fans queuing up to say how wonderful he is and how his music has had a profound influence on their lives, from the woman who plays nothing but Springsteen on her car stereo (her kids know not to ask for anything else), to the couple who have never seen him live but feel blessed to have his music enriching their lives, to the British fan who found himself and his wife given an unexpected upgrade at Madison Square Garden that saw them move from the very upper reaches of the venue to the front row itself; all these stories reinforce the positive effects Springsteen and his music have had on so many different people over so many years.

Much is made of Springsteen’s writing about and for the working class in America, the blue collar part of the electorate who seem to have their hopes and dreams denied them time and time again, but remain determined to make something of their lives. This struggle is a recurring theme in Springsteen’s music, and finds it’s most apt expression in the comments made by a female trucker who has found empowerment through his lyrics.

Of course, the average viewer’s tolerance for all this will depend on their appreciation of Springsteen and how much of his music is familiar to them. Fans will lap this up, and are likely to derive intense satisfaction from seeing their own views reflected back at them, while those less familiar with The Boss’s output will quickly wonder if there’s going to be any alternative to all the cheery – but still heartfelt – eulogising (there is – twice – but they’re brief moments, although the second has one of the best responses to an off-camera question you’re ever likely to hear).

With other fans providing succinct three word appraisals of Springsteen – though some struggle to stop at three – as well as plenty of concert footage taken from various periods of Springsteen’s career (including a very early acoustic performance of Growin’ Up), the movie benefits greatly from the choices director Walsh has made for inclusion and the sure-handed editorial approach taken with the material. A word of caution though: the documentary proper ends around the eighty minute mark. The rest of the movie is taken up by live footage taken from Springsteen’s London concert in 2012 (and featuring Paul McCartney on a couple of Beatles tracks), and following that, a real surprise for the viewer (and some of the fans).

Rating: 8/10 – a well-constructed documentary that avoids any accusations of superficiality by virtue of the obvious sincerity of its participants; a treat for fans and a reminder of Springsteen’s enduring musical legacy.

The Book Thief (2013)

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Brian Percival, Emily Watson, Geoffrey Rush, Germany, Jewish refugee, Library, Liesel Meminger, Markus Zusak, Nazis, Review, Sophie Nélisse, World War II

D: Brian Percival / 131m

Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nélisse, Ben Schnetzer, Nico Liersch, Levin Liam, Rainer Bock, Barbara Auer, Roger Allam

Literary adaptations are a perilous thing, both for filmmakers and audiences alike. For every Schindler’s List there’s a Bonfire of the Vanities. Some are critically bulletproof, such as the Harry Potter series; despite the turgid nature of the first two movies featuring the bespectacled wizard, they were huge box office successes and paved the way for the remaining instalments (which, effectively, meant they were commercially bulletproof as well). Most fall somewhere in-between, neither success nor failure but an often strange combination of the two e.g. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones or Smilla’s Sense of Snow, one moment distilling the essence of the original novel, the next demolishing that moment with an ill-judged sequence or change from the source material. Others simply die on the screen (the aforementioned Bonfire of the Vanities, The Osterman Weekend, the Jack Black version of Gulliver’s Travels).

Most try to be faithful to the novel they’re adapting but sometimes this is the very thing that stops the movie from being a success: by cleaving to the set-up, the characters and the events depicted in the novel, the movie somehow misses the spark that made the book a must-read. Instead of a must-see movie, audiences are presented with an adaptation that keeps the essential components but fails to breathe cinematic life into them.

And so it is with The Book Thief. Adapted from the novel by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief in question is Liesel Meminger (Nelisse), a young girl who is given up for adoption by her mother (who may or may not be a communist) during the Second World War. She is taken in by the Hubermanns, Hans (Rush) and Rosa (Watson). Hans is a gentle, encouraging man who teaches Liesel how to read; from this Liesel develops her love of books. Rosa is stern and constantly criticising Liesel’s behaviour (though you know she has a soft spot for her, however horrid she might be). As time goes by and Liesel settles in to life with her new Mama and Papa, the war that seems to be going on in a separate part of Germany altogether, begins to encroach on their daily lives.

One day a young Jewish man called Max Vandenburg (Schnetzer) comes to their house. On the run from the Nazis, he is hurt and needs a place to hide. Owing a debt to his father, the Hubermanns at first hide him in Liesel’s room, then transfer him to the basement. There is an anxious occasion when a Nazi officer visits them and asks to see the basement but he goes away pretty quickly and has no idea that Max is there (and it turns out he’s not even looking for him). Helped back to nearly full health by Rosa’s administrations and Liesel’s reading to him (through books stolen from the burgermeister’s library), Max leaves before he can put them in greater danger. Then Hans is conscripted, despite his age. With the war getting nearer and nearer, Liesel’s future looks increasingly uncertain.

The Book Thief is a curiously flat, dramatically sterile movie that sticks to the same pace from its strikingly photographed opening to its let’s-try-and-be-upbeat-even-though-the-ending’s-a-downer conclusion. There’s very little drama here, very little of what the Germans refer to as sturm und drang (“storm and drive”). Michael Petroni’s adaptation is as dull and uneventful as a trip to a colour chart museum. There’s the visit by the Nazi officer, which should have the viewer on the edge of their seat, but as there’s so little invested in Max’s character, it doesn’t come across as a tense moment at all; it would have been more dramatic by this point if he had been discovered. The only other source of “trouble” that Liesel faces is from school bully and Nazi Youth member Franz Deutscher (Liam), and all he does is make empty threats about “reporting” her (and literally does no more than that). With such an absence of tension throughout, The Book Thief – while remaining true to its source – ends up being a collection of scenes that relate to each other but do little to involve the viewer at any particular point.

As a result, Rush and Watson have to fall back on their expertise to raise their characters from the level of caricatures or cardboard cut-outs, while newcomer Nelisse actually manages to impress even though she has as little to work with as her more experienced co-stars. Percival’s direction does nothing to improve things and is workmanlike at best, though the production – on a technical level – makes up for the emotional detachment, and is often lovely to look at. And there should be one final word for the narrator. Step forward, Death, as voiced by Roger Allam. If there is any further proof required that The Book Thief doesn’t work as well as it should, then take a listen to the dreadful dialogue Allam has to give voice to. If you’re not cringing after the first few sentences (right at the start of the movie) then you’ll probably enjoy The Book Thief a lot more than most.

Rating: 5/10 – dull as the proverbial ditchwater, and spoilt by a lack of engagement from its director and its writer; saved by the professionalism of its cast and crew, but a major disappointment nevertheless.

Holiday

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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Off for a few days R ‘n’ R – back on the 19th with more reviews. Until then…

The Hot Flashes (2013)

15 Saturday Mar 2014

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Basketball, Breast cancer, Brooke Shields, Camryn Manheim, Daryl Hannah, Eric Roberts, Mobile mammogram service, Review, Susan Seidelman, Virginia Madsen, Wanda Sykes

D: Susan Seidelman / 99m

Cast: Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Virginia Madsen, Camryn Manheim, Wanda Sykes, Eric Roberts, Mark Povinelli, Andrea Frankle, Jessica Rothe, Charlotte Graham, Carl Palmer, Kenny Alfonso, Heidi Hite

When the mobile mammogram service she helped start up is facing closure because of an administration oversight that’s also her fault, Beth Humphrey (Shields) decides she has to do something about it. But with the service needing $25,000 to keep running, what exactly can she do? The answer: contact some of her old high school basketball team and persuade them to take on that year’s high school state championship team in a best of three competition with any winnings they get from side betting to be used to keep the mammogram service going.

Of course, getting the old team back together isn’t without its ups and downs, and – on Beth’s part – a fair bit of lying about the commitment of each team member. First there’s car dealer Ginger (Hannah), who isn’t sure Beth will be able to get everyone back together but is willing to take part. Then there’s biker chick Roxie (Manheim), who thinks she’s too out of shape and won’t take part if a certain team member is involved. That certain team member is repeat bride Clementine (Madsen), who had a fling with Roxie’s boyfriend back in the day; she doesn’t want to take part either. And then there’s the current mayor, Florine (Sykes), who tells Beth she’s far too busy with her campaign for re-election. Despite their objections, Beth tells each of them when the first practice session is, and – surprise, surprise – all four turn up.

All five women still have some moves, and while fitness is an issue, the will to take on the current state champions, even though they’re around twenty-five to thirty years younger, helps them realise just how mundane their lives have become. Beth’s marriage to Laurence (Roberts) has lost its passion, as has Roxie’s relationship with husband Tito (Alfonso). Ginger is apparently single but constantly refers to her roommate, Jewel (Hite) in ways that make the other women believe they’re a couple. Clementine is “between husbands”; being back on the team helps with her self-esteem and getting back at the state champions’ coach (Palmer), who’s also one of her exes. And Florine learns to loosen up and not focus so much on her political career. All five women begin to take better control of their lives and as their game improves, their friendships create an unbreakable bond between them.

The Hot Flashes – the name the women give themselves as a team name – have to overcome a variety of obstacles to get all three games played, and it will come as no surprise that everything hinges on their winning the third and final game. With Beth being tested most of all off the court – Laurence may be having an affair, her daughter Jocelyn (Graham) is on the champions’ team – it’s up to the rest of the women to help her pull through, and together save the mammogram service and show that middle-aged women can still be as competitive and determined as their younger counterparts.

This may not come as a surprise, but The Hot Flashes is another exercise in female empowerment slash wish fulfillment. Unfortunately, it’s only mildly entertaining and while the cast do their best with some of the broadest female characterisations to be seen for a while, the movie fails to bring anything new to the genre, and only sporadically attains its own aspirations. The women put aside their differences with speed and ease – even Roxie and Clementine bury the hatchet without their mutual enmity causing too much of a problem – and form the kind of sisterly bond that will see them remain friends for the rest of their lives (strange, though, how it wasn’t there when they were younger). The problems they encounter are often superficial and/or banal, and add little depth or drama as the story unfolds. There’s a bit of an old/young divide as well, with Jocelyn’s friend and teammate Kayla (Frankle) making ageist remarks at every turn, as if the women need a further spur toward achieving their goal. And the male characters… well, let’s just say that in terms of gender equality, Brad Hennig’s script has no problem in showing them all to be self-centred, egotistical and unsupportive.

Distinct sexism aside, The Hot Flashes tries hard to be about team effort and team spirit conquering all, but even that aesthetic wears thin pretty quickly. Which is a shame as the movie has a great cast and Susan Seidelman’s direction takes full advantage of the ladies’ experience and acting skills, despite being in service to a script that doesn’t give them half as much to do as it needs to. Shields, who tends to do more TV work than film, takes centre stage and does well as the beleaguered Beth, while Madsen and Manheim squeeze more out of their roles than expected. Hannah appears awkward, and Sykes is reduced to an occasional wisecrack or two, but even held back as they are, both actresses acquit themselves well considering the material. As for the game sequences, all five women show an aptitude for basketball that will probably surprise most viewers, and the final game delivers a degree of otherwise unexpected tension (even if the outcome is never in doubt).

Rating: 5/10 – occasionally amusing but too patchy to work properly, The Hot Flashes (almost) wastes the talents of its cast; an unassuming diversion that works best on the court rather than off it.

Mini-Review: Kill Your Darlings (2013)

13 Thursday Mar 2014

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Allen Ginsberg, Beat poets, Ben Foster, Columbia University, Dane DeHaan, Daniel Radcliffe, David Kemmerer, Elizabeth Olsen, Infatuation, Jack Huston, John Krokidas, Love, Lucien Carr, Michael C. Hall, Murder, Review, William Burroughs

D: John Krokidas / 104m

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Ben Foster, David Cross, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Elizabeth Olsen, John Cullum, David Rasche

Covering the years 1943-45 while fledgling poet Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe) was at Columbia University, Kill Your Darlings – a reference to William Faulkner – charts the growing infatuation between Ginsberg and fellow student Lucien Carr (Chronicle‘s DeHaan), their relationships with William Burroughs (Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Huston), and eventually, their roles in the murder of Dr David Kemmerer (Hall).

This is a slow burn movie, where the script strives to paint the characters as boldly as possible and with as much honesty as possible. Carr is shown as manipulative, pretentious and ultimately callow, while Ginsberg comes across as incredibly naive. As played by Radcliffe, Ginsberg is all grinning confusion and slow-on-the-uptake reactions. Unfortunately, this means that neither of them are particularly likeable (though Ginsberg edges it); as a result the movie suffers because it’s difficult to root for any of them, and when the details of the murder are revealed, any sympathies built up during the movie are swept away in a moment (though maybe that was the filmmakers’ intention).

Like a lot of so-called “free thinkers” with plans to change the world, they’re more adept at ruining the world they live in than creating a new one. When it becomes clear that they’re no better than the system they despise, the movie starts to falter and first-timer Krokidas loses his previously sure grip on proceedings. Of the cast, Radcliffe and DeHaan acquit themselves well, while Foster exudes an icy menace as Burroughs. Hall, though, is miscast, and struggles as the doomed Kammerer. That said, Krokidas makes good use of a great cast, and allowing for the odd stumble, shows a great deal of promise. The 40’s recreation is done well, and Reed Morano’s cinematography recalls other movies from the same period. An interesting story, then, and well-mounted but it’s difficult to tell an interesting story when the main characters are so hollow inside.

Rating: 7/10 – a minor slice of history given a fair-minded treatment that doesn’t quite achieve its aims; absorbing though and another good performance from Radcliffe.

Group Review: Shed No Tears (1948) / Child Bride (1938) / Detective Kitty O’Day (1944)

13 Thursday Mar 2014

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Child marriage, Crime, Exploitation, Harry Revier, Insurance fraud, Jean Parker, Jean Yarbrough, June Vincent, Murder, Mystery, Ozarks, Review, Shirley Mills, Wallace Ford, William Beaudine, www.archive.org

NOTE: All three movies were viewed courtesy of http://www.archive.org – go check it out!

Shed No Tears (1948)

D: Jean Yarbrough / 70m

Cast: Wallace Ford, June Vincent, Mark Roberts, Johnstone White, Frank Albertson, Dick Hogan, Elena Verdugo

Spirited noir with a constantly twisting, changing plot to keep its audience guessing (although the eventual outcome is never in doubt – it’s the Forties after all, and bad people still need to be punished). After faking his death with the help of his wife Edna (Vincent), Sam Grover (Ford) hides out until Edna can collect on the insurance money. What Sam doesn’t know is that Edna has no intention of sharing the money with him, and has her own plans involving her lover, Ray (Roberts). Meanwhile, Sam’s son Tom (Hogan), unconvinced that his father’s “death” was accidental, hires a private detective (White) to look into the matter. What follows is an entertaining yarn full of double crosses, unexpected twists and turns, and hard-boiled dialogue (mostly uttered by Vincent). The cast are proficient – though some of Vincent’s line readings are memorable for all the wrong reasons – and Yarbrough’s direction shows a sure hand. Not as slick or as impressive as some other post-war noirs but worth catching nevertheless.

Rating: 6/10 – a minor gem that works well when focusing on its lead characters’ greed; Vincent looks completely untrustworthy throughout.

Child Bride (1938)

D: Harry Revier / 62m

Cast: Shirley Mills, Bob Bollinger, Warner Richmond, Diana Durrell, Dorothy Carrol, George Humphreys, Frank Martin

Exploitation curio that mixes child marriage reform with more traditional soap opera elements. Jennie (Mills) is twelve. She’s a bright, precocious child who lives with her mother (Carrol) and father (Humphreys) in the Ozarks. The community there sees nothing wrong with children Jennie’s age being married because, as one character puts it, “there ain’t enough adult women to go round”. The local school teacher, Miss Carol (Durrell) is fighting to have the law changed but it’s an uphill struggle. Meanwhile, Jennie’s father falls foul of his partner in an illegal still, Jake Bolby (Richmond). Events play out so that Jennie ends up betrothed to Bolby. Will she be saved in the nick of time? Child Bride moves along at a rapid pace and crams a lot into its short running time. Revier directs ably enough but the cast vary from just about credible (Richmond) to downright terrible (Durrell and Martin). There’s an extended sequence where Jennie goes skinny-dipping and it’s clear that Mills is naked, and an even more risible sequence where Miss Carol is abducted at night by hooded men.

Rating: 4/10 – engrossing in its way, Child Bride ends up being a little too melodramatic for its own good; it’s also dated badly but the presentation of its central theme still has the ability to make modern audiences uncomfortable.

Detective Kitty O’Day (1944)

D: William Beaudine / 61m

Cast: Jean Parker, Peter Cookson, Tim Ryan, Veda Ann Borg, Edward Gargan, Douglas Fowley, Herbert Heyes, Pat Gleason

Fast-paced comedy whodunnit featuring Parker as Kitty O’Day, who, when her boss is murdered, decides to find the killer – against the best advice of her boyfriend Johnny (Cookson) and the police (Ryan, Gargan). But everywhere she turns, more dead bodies pop up and soon Kitty and Johnny become the number one suspects. Parker and Cookson make for a good team, and if their banter seems a little forced at times, it doesn’t detract from the obvious chemistry they have together. The storyline dips in and out of being plausible, and the final explanation is unnecessarily convoluted, but otherwise this is an enjoyable romp that relies largely on short, punchy scenes to make up its running time. Beaudine – who could make this kind of movie in his sleep – keeps it light and frothy, and the cast fill their roles with ease, especially Ryan and Gargan who steal the show as the by turns exasperated and clueless cops on the case. Not a classic – and neither is the sequel, Adventures of Kitty O’Day (1945) – but it’s a fun way to pass an hour.

Rating: 5/10 – tries to be rip-roaring but gets bogged down in its own plot; light and breezy throughout with few variations to compensate for all the frivolity.

Mini-Review: Captain Phillips (2013)

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Barkhad Abdi, Billy Ray, Hijacking, Maersk Alabama, Paul Greengrass, Review, Somali pirates, Tom Hanks, True story

D: Paul Greengrass / 134m

Cast: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, Catherine Keener, David Warshofsky, Corey Johnson, Chris Mulkey

Based on the attempted hijacking of the freighter ship Maersk Alabama in 2009 by Somali pirates, Captain Phillips is a heart-stopping, adrenaline-charged powerhouse of a movie that grabs hold of its audience from the moment two ominous blips are seen on the Alabama’s radar screen, and doesn’t let go until nearly two hours later. The first time the Somalis attack they are unsuccessful, but the ship’s crew know they’ll be back; it’s just a question of how long. When they do, and they manage to board the ship, so begins a game of cat and mouse between the titular Captain Phillips (Hanks) and the Somali leader Muse (Abdi), a game that escalates when Phillips, Muse and Muse’s three compatriots, end up in the Alabama’s lifeboat heading for Somalia. The navy is called in – will they be able to rescue Phillips unscathed, or will the Somalis reach their home shores instead?

The answer to both questions is not exactly, and maybe. This is high drama played out at such a pitch that it keeps the audience on the edge of its seat not daring to breathe. Through each twist and turn of the narrative, Greengrass keeps a tight hold on proceedings, ratcheting up the tension until it’s almost unbearable. He’s aided immeasurably by incredible performances by Hanks and Abdi, both equally mesmerising, and both deserving of every accolade they receive. Hanks’ final scene is incredible to watch, a wrenching, pitiless depiction of a man who has gone through so much he’s fighting to remain on top of things and not succeeding; while Abdi convinces as a Somali fisherman who is complex and threatening and naive and proud all at the same time. Of course, all this is down to Billy Ray’s incredible script, by turns thrilling, emotional, nerve-wracking and detailed. The photography by Barry Ackroyd and editing by Christopher Rouse are superb, but this is Greengrass’s towering achievement: his best film yet and easily the most kinetic, charged movie of 2013 – never has the word “execute” been the trigger for an audience to be able to release so much pent-up emotion.

Rating: 9/10 – my movie of the year for 2013 and easily the most exciting thriller of recent years; a powerful experience that lingers long in the memory.

Non-Stop (2014)

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Air marshal, Bomb, Hijacking, Iceland, Jaume Collet-Serra, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Lupita Nyong'o, Michelle Dockery, Ransom demand, Review, Scoot McNairy, Secure network, Transatlantic flight

D: Jaume Collet-Serra / 106m

Cast: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Lupita Nyong’o, Omar Metwally, Jason Butler Harner, Linus Roache, Shea Whigham, Anson Mount

Non-Stop – or the continuing adventures of Liam Neeson in action movie land – starts off promisingly enough with air marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) preparing to board a flight to London from New York. He looks a mess, he’s drinking, he’s obviously got problems, and he has a gun. Once the flight is underway, Marks begins to get text messages over the air marshal network, which should be secure. If the mystery person sending the texts isn’t paid $150 million dollars then someone on the plane will die every twenty minutes until it is. Marks thinks it’s probably some kind of elaborate practical joke, and challenges the other air marshal on the plane, Hammond (Mount) about it, but it’s soon made clear Hammond didn’t send the messages. He alerts the captain and the cabin staff as a precaution, and also his boss at the Transport Security Administration (TSA). Only Marks takes the threat seriously. As the first twenty minute marker nears, Marks finds himself attacked by Hammond (who, it turns out, is being coerced by the texter) and is forced to kill him, thereby doing the texter’s work for him. Marks also discovers that Hammond was carrying a briefcase full of cocaine.

With Marks attempting to keep Hammond’s death from the crew and passengers – and no one making any attempt to use the toilet Hammond’s body is in – the plot thickens as it’s revealed that the account the texter wants the money transferred into is in Marks’ name. With suspicion mounting against him, Marks attempts to discover the texter’s identity by checking the passengers’ cell phones. Some of the passengers take umbrage at this, particularly NY cop Reilly (Stoll), and communications tech White (Parker). When another murder takes place after forty minutes, Marks’ behaviour becomes increasingly more desperate as he attempts to locate the texter, alienating both the crew and passengers further, and as events unfold, putting himself in the frame for what is now being seen by the outside world as a hijacking. Even the TSA believe he’s gone bad. And when he discovers there’s a bomb on the plane, Marks must do all he can to save the plane and himself.

A movie like Non-Stop can be taken (no pun intended), in one of two ways: as a leave-your-brain-at-the-door-and-go-with-it type of movie that could end up being a fun ride, or as yet another dire attempt by Hollywood to provide thrills and spills but without any kind of focus on logic or credibility – still a fun ride perhaps, but one that coasts on its high concept and promise of seeing Neeson doing what he (currently) does best: kick ass. In either circumstance, though, Non-Stop is a let-down, a polished yet soulless piece of work that is, seriously, a real piece of work.

The fault here lies squarely with the script by John W. Richardson, Christopher Roach and Ryan Engle, which piles on absurdity after absurdity and never lets you forget that credibility isn’t an issue. As Marks gets ever more desperate to discover the texter’s identity, and he violates the passengers’ rights with ever-increasing enthusiasm, the script never pauses to wonder if there might be any actual protocols involved in dealing with such an admittedly unusual situation. When Marks tells everyone about the bomb and a “damage limitation” procedure, you’re not sure if the script has made it up or it does exist in the real world. Two fighters are scrambled to fly alongside the airliner and with instructions to shoot down the plane if it drops to 8,000 feet or below because then it becomes a civilian threat. But the plane is flying over the Atlantic and is being directed to land in Iceland, not exactly the most populous of locations. Two of the victims are killed by poison dart; neither could have happened in the way they do and the script doesn’t even challenge itself to come up with anything more clever; it settles far too often for a “well, this happens, and then this happens, and it just does” kind of approach.

When the texter’s identity and his or her reasons for doing all this are revealed, it’s such a weak excuse the viewer can only shake their head in dismay and move on to the rapidly approaching finale. It’s also a pretty woolly excuse, and delivered with all the earnestness and conviction of someone trying to explain why they’ve just done something so stupid they’re terminally embarrassed about it (like signing on to be the villain in Non-Stop).

As the script is so poor, and character motivations almost on the nearly extinct list, the cast fare badly, unable to do anything other than say the lines and hit their marks. Neeson tries valiantly to make his role work but he’s hampered by having to be a hero when it would have been so much more effective if there had been some real doubt as to his involvement in the hijacking. Moore is on hand to provide support as the passenger who never doubts Marks for a moment, while McNairy, Stoll, Parker, Metwally and others are trotted out as potential hijackers as the guessing game continues. Dockery, escaping from Downton Abbey (and maybe changing agents at this very moment) is only required to look shocked and surprised at various moments, while Nyong’o, after her triumph in 12 Years a Slave, is saddled with the role of stewardess-most-required-to-scream-and-panic-a-lot.

Collet-Serra directs with ambition and a certain flair, keeping the visual side of things interesting, and making good use of the cramped conditions. However, even he can’t make much of the dire script, and as a result, the cast suffer even further, some, like Dockery, seemingly cast adrift. The action sequences are casually brutal yet effective, though the crash landing at the end won’t be the best use of CGI seen this year. If there is to be a Non-Stop 2 – and we can only pray there won’t be – it will have to be a great deal better than this to warrant a return flight.

Rating: 5/10 – as a popcorn movie, Non-Stop just about makes it, but with serious reservations; laughable in places, frustrating to watch, and just too dumb for its own good.

Cuban Fury (2014)

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Child prodigy, Chris O'Dowd, Comeback, Dance competition, Ian McShane, James Griffiths, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Rashida Jones, Review, Salsa

D: James Griffiths / 98m

Cast: Nick Frost, Rashida Jones, Chris O’Dowd, Olivia Colman, Ian McShane, Kayvan Novak, Alexandra Roach, Rory Kinnear, Tim Plester, Ben Radcliffe

As a teenager, Bruce Garrett (Frost) is a salsa prodigy, winning with his sister, Sam (Colman) trophy after trophy, and heading for the top. On his way to a major competition, Bruce is ambushed by three bullies who make fun of his sequinned outfit and assault him; ashamed and embarrassed by what has happened, Bruce turns his back on salsa and vows never to dance again.

Twenty-two years on, and Bruce is out-of-shape, without a girlfriend, and working for a tool-making company (though he does “love the lathe”). When the company gains a new, American boss, Julia (Jones), Bruce finds himself attracted to her, and while they enjoy a good working relationship, Bruce convinces himself that nothing romantic will happen between them. But when would-be Lothario and colleague, Drew (O”Dowd) begins to express a less than healthy interest in Julia, and prompted by the knowledge that Julia salsa dances as well, Bruce decides to renew his love for dance in the hope of winning Julia’s heart.

Renewing his love for dance, however, means getting back in touch with his old mentor, Ron Parfitt (McShane). Ron isn’t too pleased to see Bruce, and makes him join his beginners class. As Bruce comes to realise just how rusty he is, and how much salsa has moved on since he competed, he begins to regain his confidence. When a dance competition is announced, Bruce trains even harder with the intention of asking Julia to be his partner. But Drew is determined to bed her and engineers a situation that gives Bruce the impression he’s done so. Will Bruce learn the truth before it’s too late? Will Drew get his comeuppance? And will Julia make it to the dancehall in time to partner Bruce in the final round?

Based on an original idea by Nick Frost, Cuban Fury is a romantic comedy that charms its way into the viewer’s heart thanks to a combination of winning performances, a neat line in physical comedy, and well-choreographed dance sequences. The movie wears its heart on its sleeve from the outset, showing the enjoyment the younger Bruce (Radcliffe) derives from dancing before it turns necessarily darker when Bruce is subject to the bullies’ attack. Frost shows the same love and enjoyment in his dance sequences, displaying an agility and aptitude that, on paper at least, should be surprising, but in reality are entirely believable (though the acrobatics employed in the dance-off against Drew undermine Frost’s efforts in the rest of the movie). O’Dowd has some good moves as well (though he’s more of an improviser than a formal dancer), but Jones only gets to strut her stuff in a couple of much shorter sequences. Even so, their willingness to perform – with only a few shots the work of dance doubles – helps ground the movie so that the dance routines don’t stray too far from what you’d expect of the characters.

Away from the dance floor, Frost convinces as the hapless, ordinary man who no longer expects much from his life; it’s not exactly a stretch for Frost but he’s a likeable screen presence and adds layers to the character of Bruce that might not otherwise have been included. O’Dowd excels as the ultra-sleazy Drew, the kind of man a woman would bite her own foot off to avoid, as clueless about the fairer sex as he is about gender equality and what constitutes inappropriate behaviour. As the object of both men’s attentions, Jones has the lesser role and less opportunity to shine (though this misfortune can be laid firmly at the door of Jon Brown’s screenplay), while as Sam, Colman impresses as Bruce’s freewheeling sister, providing many of the movie’s prime laughs. So too does Novak as Bejan, one of the learners in Ron’s class who befriends Bruce and helps him regain his confidence; with one-liners such as “I’m late for my ball waxing” it’s hardly surprising. It’s left to McShane to provide the gravitas, scowling at Bruce and pushing him to work harder in order to succeed. (There’s also a priceless cameo from one of Frost’s Cornetto Trilogy castmates.)

Behind the camera, Griffiths provides efficient if unfussy direction, saving the big camera moves for the infectious dance sequences, and using low camera angles to good effect. The editing by Jonathan Amos, and the music choices (overseen by Nick Angel) combine to make these sections enthralling and enticing in equal measure (if you’re not tapping your toes there’s something wrong with you – peripheral neuropathy perhaps?).

Overall, Cuban Fury is an enjoyable variation on the boy-meets-girl, boy-deems-himself-not-worthy, boy-redeems-himself-and-wins-the-girl-through-accepting-hidden-talent tale of romantic woes and tribulations. In reality there’s nothing entirely new here but it’s done with a lightness of touch that helps captivate the viewer and keeps them smiling all the way through. And if there’s a sequel, let’s hope it’s called Cuban Fury 2: Heels of Steel.

Rating: 8/10 – funny, heart-warming and brimming with charm, Cuban Fury entertains throughout its running time; kudos to Frost for bringing his idea to life, and with such hip-swinging verve.

Evidence (2011)

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Abigail Richie, Ashley Bracken, Camping trip, Creature, Found footage, Howie Askins, Review, Twist

D: Howie Askins / 78m

Cast: Abigail Richie, Ashley Bracken, Ryan McCoy, Brett Rosenberg

Yet another entry in the found-footage sub-genre of horror movies, Evidence is a low-budget exercise in misdirection that pulls the rug out from under its audience at the midway mark. Ryan (McCoy, also the movie’s writer) is making a documentary about his friend Brett (Rosenberg) going on his first camping trip. It’s a fairly inane reason for making a documentary and for the first twenty minutes or so it’s taken up with Brett voicing his dislike of being filmed, and Ryan being pretentious. Along for the trip are their respective girlfriends, Ashley (Bracken) and Abigail (Richie). On the first night they hear a noise that Ryan dismisses as a coyote. The next day they see a strange creature in a nearby ravine. That night the noise escalates, and stranger things begin to happen.

By this stage, Evidence is shaping up to be a Bigfoot-style movie. And if it had continued in that vein the movie might have been less effective than it actually turns out. And while the twist that happens after that second night takes the movie into a more nightmarish arena, there’s still something about the direction it takes that makes you want to find out if the filmmakers could have pulled off a more focused creature feature. The creature itself is well-realised and mirrors the creature effects in Attack the Block (2011). Once the twist is revealed, the movie does little but offer its two female leads running around and screaming a lot, while being chased. For a while it even takes us into first-person-shooter territory with an approach that wouldn’t look out-of-place in a Resident: Evil game. The filmmakers have strived to provide the audience with something different from the usual found-footage movies out there, and while they certainly succeed – two shots are as disturbing as anything seen in modern horror – the repetition that goes along with the change in direction undercuts the tension.

Director Askins (Devil Girl (2007), several shorts) moves the story along at a brisk pace suited to the running time, and McCoy’s script sticks closely to formula in that whatever is “out there” is shown fleetingly (until the end), and that whenever one of the characters is attacked, the camera is conveniently on the ground or out of focus. (At least, on this occasion, there is a good reason for the characters to keep filming: most of the time it’s night and the light from the camera let’s them see what they’re doing and where they’re going.)

Richie and Bracken give good performances, even if some of their dialogue early on seems forced, but as mentioned before, once the twist kicks in they have little to do but run and scream a lot. Rosenberg seems uncomfortable throughout, while McCoy is unafraid to play the jerk, and while other characters do appear, they’re not around for long.

Evidence does suffer at times from ploughing the same furrow as other found-footage movies, but its willingness to try something different is to its credit. While it’s not entirely successful, and some elements appear lifted from other horror sub-genres, it’s nevertheless worth seeing. One word of warning though: be prepared for maximum frustration in the last ten minutes as the filmmakers take video and audio fragmentation to its most annoying level ever.

Rating: 6/10 – for once, you won’t see what’s coming, and when you do you’ll find it’s more disturbing than you could have expected; uneven, it’s true, but still more of an achievement than a failure.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Cold Weather (2010)

09 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Aaron Katz, Cris Lankenau, Disappearance, Mystery, Portland, Raúl Castillo, Raffles, Review, Robyn Rikoon, Sherlock Holmes, Trieste Kelly Dunn

D: Aaron Katz / 96m

Cast: Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Raúl Castillo, Robyn Rikoon, Jeb Pearson, Brendan McFadden

Doug (Lankenau) is a twenty-something slacker with a background in forensic science but no motivation to make a career from it. When Cold Weather begins he’s without a job, without a girlfriend, and reduced to sleeping on his sister’s couch. He’s a classic underachiever. Eventually he gets a job working nights at an ice factory where he meets Carlos (Castillo). They become friends, and the usually aimless Doug begins to come out of his shell, admitting his love of Sherlock Holmes and his dream to become a detective some day, like the sleuth of 221b Baker Street (also, throughout the movie Doug carries a copy of E.W. Hornung’s Raffles around with him). When Doug’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Rikoon) appears on the scene her subsequent disappearance leads Doug, aided and pushed in equal measure by his sister, Gail (Dunn) and Carlos, into using his nascent detective skills to find her.

Cold Weather is a curious movie. It mixes modern film noir with a slacker aesthetic and adopts a slow-burn pace in an effort to heighten the drama and the mystery of Rachel’s disappearance. However, the mix fails to gel, and the viewer is left waiting for the movie to pull itself together. When Doug and Carlos are in Rachel’s motel room looking for clues – a scene normally ripe for increased tension – there’s some rudimentary checking of drawers and the bathroom before Doug notices something in the parking lot. Instead of this being a sudden revelation geared to reinforcing the audience’s attention, it falls flat due to a) Lankenau’s reading of the line (it’s not his fault, to be fair, it’s how the character has been written by Katz), and b) the static camerawork that leaves Carlos’ reaction almost offscreen.

There’s a fair degree of intelligence at work here but it’s undermined by the decision to pace the movie so glacially, and by having its central character be so socially awkward and unable to engage with others. When we meet Rachel it’s hard to understand what she might have seen in Doug; plus it’s already obvious that the only female relationship that Doug is comfortable with is with Gail, and she is often more of a mother to him than a sister. As the movie struggles on to its annoyingly abrupt ending, Doug does become less and less insular but only registers any real emotion when delighting in some minor vandalism. What becomes clear is that without the involvement of Carlos and Gail, Doug would never have looked into Rachel’s disappearance at all. With this in mind, the movie now feels contrived, and Doug given no motivation to act unless his friend and sister bully him into it.

Against this, there’s also the aforementioned glacial pacing. Katz directs at a snail’s pace, dragging out shots and scenes for no other purpose (it seems) than to extend what would otherwise be a pretty short movie. One sequence, where Gail and Doug are driving up to the top of a multi-storey car park, is filmed from the backseat and contains no dialogue as they ascend. The view through the windscreen is over-exposed, so there’s no detail… and the whole sequence serves no valid purpose. There are other, similar moments and while slow-paced movies can be rewarding in their own right, they still have to be engaging and astute in the assembly of the material.

Fortunately the performances are good, with Lankenau – who also appeared in Katz’s Quiet City (2007) – effective as the bordering-on-Asperger’s Doug, while Dunn quietly outshines everyone with her take on a sister who seems to have willingly put her life on hold to look after her brother. Castillo and Rikoon provide solid support and the suitably wintry location photography – all steely greys and blues – is lensed by Andrew Reed to great effect. And while Katz’s screenplay is packed with unnecessary longueurs, there is still enough of merit to warrant looking out for his other works (he just needs to sack his current editor – himself).

Rating: 5/10 – it drags badly in places but Cold Weather has a quirky feel to it that helps it through; there’s a deeper meaning here too but it all depends on whether or not the viewer is interested enough to dig for it.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Blood Car (2007)

09 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Alex Orr, Alternative fuel, Anna Chlumsky, Gas prices, Horror, Katie Rowlett, Mike Brune, Review, Satire, Wheatgrass

D: Alex Orr / 76m

Cast: Mike Brune, Anna Chlumsky, Katie Rowlett, Matt Hutchinson, Marla Malcolm, Mr. Malt, Matthew Stanton, Hawmi Guillebeaux, Bill Szymanski, Vince Canlas

With an introduction to camera that tells the viewer that the movie is set in the near future – “a couple of weeks from now” – Blood Car begins with elementary school teacher Archie (Brune) telling his class the story of the Little Engine That Could. It’s a neat foreshadowing of the movie to come and a great offset to the carnage in store for the viewer.

In the future, gas prices in America have hit record levels, around $30 a gallon. Having a car that runs is a rich man’s game, but Archie isn’t rich. He does have a car though, and a plan to run it using wheatgrass. But his plan isn’t working, the wheatgrass will only let the car run for a minute or two, and he’s close to giving up when he stumbles on the real fuel he needs to keep his car running. There’s no prizes for guessing it’s blood (this isn’t called Wheatgrass Car, after all), but therein lies a problem: Archie is a vegan; how will he be able to find enough blood to keep his car running?

The answer is: quite easily. After some attempts at despatching the local wildlife, Archie graduates to larger animals i.e. dogs, but they’re simply not large enough to provide sufficient blood. When his neighbour, Mrs Butterfield (Barbara Carnes) passes away unexpectedly, it’s just a short drop from her veranda to the back of Archie’s car where he’s developed a contraption that is basically part blender and part engine. From then on, finding “donors” is only the first of Archie’s mounting problems.

Problem number one is Denise (Rowlett). She’s interested in Archie because of his car and is willing to let him sleep with her if he drives her around; their relationship becomes dependent on Archie finding enough blood for his car. Problem number two is Lorraine (My Girl‘s Chlumsky), who is attracted to Archie but begins to have suspicions about his car when he stops buying wheatgrass from her. Problem number three is the government: agents are sent to steal the car for the government’s own purposes and Archie has to fend them off almost continuously. And problem number four is Archie’s deteriorating mental stability; after all, how can someone kill so many people and not have it affect them?

Adopting a grind house approach, Blood Car is a very black comedy and some aspects will doubtless offend people – Archie’s shooting at a dog tied to a stake; one of Archie’s pupils being shot in the head at point blank range; the final “throwaway” shot involving a baby – but the movie is very funny and if the humour is a little bit offensive in places then it’s balanced by moments where the script (by Orr and Adam Pinney) displays some fine touches – the predatory Denise letting Archie see her vulnerable side by inviting him back to her place; Archie having sex with Lorraine but clearly not enjoying the experience; Archie being carjacked and then debating the finer points of gas consumption with the carjacker (Mr. Melt); and the answer to the age-old question: how far will you get when the disabled war veteran you feed to your car has plastic legs and a plastic arm? (The answer is: not far.)

The script, however, does falter at times. Lorraine is underused, and once she and Archie sleep together, the script doesn’t know what to do with her. The government agents are presented as either stupid or psychotic, or both, and the eventual meeting between Archie and Agent Watkins (Hutchinson) reads like the conspiracy theories of a confused pot smoker. The editing is also clumsy at times, leaving the viewer wondering if what they’re seeing is happening in the right order (it’s a weird effect but that’s the best way to describe it). There’s an initial over-reliance on public domain classical music on the soundtrack, and the movie itself ends rather abruptly.

Further on the plus side, the general tone of the movie is feverish and this suits the subject matter perfectly, while the performances are likeable with Brune well cast in particular. There’s very little gore despite the killing method, but there is the requisite number of bare breasts on display throughout (watch out as well for the fantasy art that Lorraine has drawn of her and Archie). Orr, making his feature debut, shows a sure hand and keeps things moving along at a good pace while allowing his principal cast plenty of room to flesh out their characters. The satire is cleverly worked into the proceedings and the various messages surrounding society’s approach to consumption and waste are presented organically and without resorting to tub-thumping.

NOTE: When Archie and Denise are at the drive-in, the movie they’re watching is Stomp! Shout! Scream! (2005). Alex Orr appears in that movie as Deputy Frank.

Rating: 7/10 – hugely enjoyable satirical horror with a bit of a soft heart amidst the carnage; well worth tracking down despite (or maybe because of) its low-budget limitations.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Mini-Review: The Fifth Estate (2013)

09 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bill Condon, Daniel Berg, Daniel Brühl, Internet, Julian Assange, Laura Linney, Leaked documents, Review, WikiLeaks

D: Bill Condon / 128m

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Anthony Mackie, Laura Linney, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Moritz Bleibtreu, Carice van Houten, Jamie Blackley, Stanley Tucci

Remarkably similar in tone and circumstance to the creation of Facebook as shown in David Fincher’s The Social Network, The Fifth Estate shows how WikiLeaks became such a global phenomenon.

In the beginning, Julian Assange (Cumberbatch) is shown struggling to get his site acknowledged by the wider Internet community. A fortuitous meeting with Daniel Berg (Brühl), a bored IT expert, gives Assange the help he needs in expanding and publicising WikiLeaks, and sets them on the road to international notoriety. Along the way they expose dictatorships, a tax-avoiding Swiss bank, rigged elections, and more. Then comes the tipping point: over 250,000 leaked documents relating to the US war crimes in Afghanistan, and diplomatic cables that describe the US’s real feelings about the various governments and world leaders it deals with. Assange and Berg fall out over how to disseminate the information, and the future of WikiLeaks is brought into sharp relief.

Already disowned by Assange, The Fifth Estate shows WikiLeaks’ creator to be narcissistic, arrogant, paranoid, and a user of other people. Cumberbatch plays him superbly, all grating Australian accent and sneering condescension; but how close a representation of the man it really is, is difficult to tell. Based in part on Berg’s own book, the movie skirts perilously close to demonising the man, while Berg comes out of it looking whiter than white. For a film about a man with a burning desire to show people “the truth” about the world they live in, it’s a dangerous approach to take. This is one-sided reportage, and the film ends with Cumberbatch as Assange making reference to the film itself and dismissing it; it’s an uncomfortable coda, even though Assange has made his feelings clear about the movie.

That said, the movie is a gripping retelling of recent events and holds the attention throughout. The cast are uniformly excellent, and even though the script by Josh Singer contains large chunks of exposition, it’s all presented in an easy-to-follow manner. Condon, fresh off the challenges of the final two Breaking Dawn movies, directs confidently and with a clear eye for the complexities of the material. It’s a movie that will attract controversy for some time to come, but as a jumping off point for the wider issues involved, this is where the movie really succeeds.

Rating: 8/10 – powerful, with two mesmerising lead performances, The Fifth Estate is thought-provoking, intelligent and remarkable; while it’s not as rigorous in its approach as it would like to be, it’s still a fascinating examination of a recent global phenomenon.

No Contest (1995)

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Action, Andrew Dice Clay, Beauty pageant, Camera gun, Die Hard, Hostages, Paul Lynch, Review, Robert Davi, Roddy Piper, Shannon Tweed, Thriller

D: Paul Lynch / 98m

Cast: Shannon Tweed, Robert Davi, Andrew Clay, Roddy Piper, Nicholas Campbell, John Colicos, James Purcell, Judith Scott, Polly Shannon, Louis Wrightman, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, J.D. Nicholsen

Seven years after Die Hard and still the rip-offs kept coming… This time around the setting is a beauty pageant being staged in a hotel, and instead of wrong-cop-in-the-wrong-place John McClane, we have wrong-hostess-in-the-wrong-place Sharon Bell (Tweed). As the winner is announced, arch-villain Oz (Clay) and his crew of ne’er-do-wells take over the pageant and the hotel and hold the finalists, plus Bell, as hostages. Among the finalists is Miss U.S.A. (Shannon). Her father, Senator Wilson (Colicos) and Oz used to be business partners until the Senator let him take the fall for a dodgy business deal gone wrong. Now Oz is looking for some payback.

While Oz and co intimidate their hostages and try to look menacing, outside the building, Crane (Davi), Miss U.S.A.’s bodyguard, and Captain Hendricks (Purcell) plot to find a way into the hotel, rescue the hostages and thwart Oz’s evil plan. Along the way there are the usual double crosses, action beats, less-than-credible dialogue, over-acting, lazy direction, ridiculous stunts (Davi hanging by his cane underneath a rising maintenance cart), and one climax too many.

As No Contest lurches from one absurd scene to the next, it becomes obvious that no one on the production side of things was concerned at just how absurd it all is. And yet, the movie, despite all its faults – or maybe because of them – is one of the most enjoyable Die Hard rip-offs out there. First, there is Shannon Tweed, taking time out from her usual role as a sexual predator in movies such as Body Chemistry 4: Full Exposure. Now, Tweed is a beautiful woman and she has a terrific figure, but what she doesn’t have is any real talent for acting. She never seems sure of how to play a scene, or react to what’s going on around her. Watch her in the scene where Vic (Campbell) takes her down to the swimming pool and removes the explosive cuff she and the other hostages have been made to wear. In a scene where her character should be scared of what’s coming next, the expression on her face relays confusion instead. It’s almost as if she’s not sure what she’s supposed to be doing. But with all this, the camera loves her and it’s hard to take your eyes off her whether she’s standing at a podium announcing the winner of the pageant or scrabbling through an air vent.

Second is the inspired casting of the bad guys. Aside from Clay there’s ex-WWE wrestler Roddy Piper as psychotic sidekick Ice; the aforementioned Nicholas Campbell as vain, incompetent Vic; Louis Wrightman as trigger-happy Que; Keram Malicki-Sanchez as pony-tailed computer whiz Cal; and J.D. Nicholsen as spare wheel Zed. All six make for a great team of villains, and each gets their own special ‘moment’ to shine, especially Malicki-Sanchez once Tweed has tied him to a pipe.

Third is just the sheer barminess of the plot. The police initially send in just two armed officers to infiltrate the hotel; both are killed by a camera fitted out with a gun. Oz takes control of the pageant while wearing a ill-fitting wig and moustache that he quickly discards and never wears again; Ice survives lethal attack after lethal attack, enough to make you wonder if his real name is Michael Myers; and Crane puts having a cigarette before being a proper bodyguard to Miss U.S.A. and gets himself locked out of the hotel as a result. It’s so bad it’s brilliant.

Lynch directs ably enough, and the fights are well-staged. Tweed does well as an action heroine, and Clay hams it up so much you wonder if there was a porcine shortage during the movie’s making. The film moves along at a fair pace and while it’s all very preposterous, it keeps the viewer entertained throughout.

Rating: 6/10 – Tweed proves a good focus for an action movie that is short on original ideas but is fun to watch nevertheless; a six-pack and a pizza kind of movie and just right for a zone-out Saturday night.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

The LEGO Movie (2014)

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Bad Cop, Batman, Building blocks, C-3PO, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Lando Calrissian, Lego, Liam Neeson, Master Builder, Morgan Freeman, Review, Superman, The Man Upstairs, Will Ferrell, Wonder Woman

D: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller / 100m

Cast: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Cobie Smulders, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill

When evil Lord Business (Ferrell) steals the Kragle from Vitruvius (Freeman), he plans to use it to destroy all the Lego worlds, including his own, in a bid to restore order where he sees only chaos. Before he does, though, Vitruvius warns Lord Business of a prophecy, that there will come a Special, a Master Builder who will find the Piece of Resistance that will, in turn, stop the Kragle from being used as a weapon. Lord Business is scornful of this idea and forges ahead with his plans.

Some time later, with Lord Business now ensconced as President Business, we meet lowly construction worker Emmet (Pratt), a smiling nobody who feels most comfortable when following instructions. At work he tries to fit in with the other employees but it’s almost as if he’s invisible. At the end of the day he discovers a young woman, Wyldstyle (Banks), searching through the ruins of the construction site (each day’s building work gets reduced to rubble again so the crews can start afresh each day – it’s a neat acknowledgement of how LEGO is used in “the real world”). She disappears, leaving Emmet to wonder what she was looking for. Falling through a hole he ends up discovering the Piece of Resistance before he’s knocked unconscious. When he wakes he’s in police custody, with the Piece of Resistance stuck to his back. Interrogated by Bad Cop (Neeson), Emmet struggles to prove his innocence. Rescued by Wyldstyle, they escape to The Old West where they meet up with Vitruvius. Bad Cop follows them and they almost perish but for the intervention of Batman (Arnett). Travelling on to Cloud Cuckoo Land where they meet Unikitty (Brie), Emmet, lacking the imagination of a true Master Builder, fails to impress a meeting of said same and they refuse to aid him against Lord Business.

The Master Builders are captured by Bad Cop while Emmet and some of the others manage to escape underwater. Evading Bad Cop’s pursuit for a while, Emmet realises that the Master Builders need someone to mold them into a team, and he’s just the man for the job. They hatch a plan to infiltrate Lord Business’s lair, rescue the Master Builders, neutralise the Kragle, and put a stop to Business’s plans once and for all.

Now that it’s here, the first thing to be said about The LEGO Movie is: why the hell has it taken so long to get here? We could have been enjoying Emmet’s adventures ages ago. For The LEGO Movie is a blast, a glorious riot of colour and sound and unfettered imagination that erupts from the screen – especially in 3D – and happy-slaps the viewer full in the face… and then does it again several times over. There’s just so much to enjoy, it’s embarrassing. From the establishing shot stretching out from Emmet’s apartment to the level of detail in almost every frame, The LEGO Movie astonishes as often as it impresses as it entertains. Of course, the visuals are key, the Lego worlds given a stunning amount of depth and solidity. There’s so much going on that the movie needs a second or third viewing to catch everything that’s happening, and even then things are still likely to be missed.

With so many visual riches on display, and a dizzying array of sight gags – some daft, some ingenious and some just sublime – it would be wrong to think of the movie as just a kind of animator’s wet dream. There is the script by co-directors Lord and Miller, a fantastic achievement that recognises the one over-riding aspect of LEGO that has been a part of its appeal since its first appearance in 1949: literally, anything can happen. Witness the changes to Bad Cop’s car when he flies off the top of the train in The Old West, or the dizzying array of adaptations and changes that happen to the vehicle Emmet and Wyldstyle escape on when fleeing the police station. The fact that the script can fit these wild feats of imagination into its more straightforward central storyline, and still deliver on some brilliant lines of dialogue as well – Batman: “I only work in black, or sometimes very, very dark grey”; Cowboy: “Do you think zeppelins are a bad investment?”; and Bad Cop: “Darn, darn, darny darn!” – shows just how much effort has been invested in bringing The LEGO Movie to completion.

The cast rise to the occasion, with Ferrell, Arnett and Freeman standing out from the crowd, supplying pitch perfect vocal performances, and there’s some great cameos – yes, that really is Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian (well, come on, who else was it going to be?) – that are fun to spot as well as goofily endearing. And look out too for Superman (Tatum) being stalked by Green Lantern (Hill), a recurring gag that could be spun out into (at least) a LEGO short. But the real, and completely unexpected vocal star, is Neeson, providing his usual gruff, tough-guy voice for Bad Cop, and alternating it when needed to a thin, whiny falsetto as Good Cop; it’s a wonderful performance and, well… who knew?

With a conclusion that veers close to being a little too sentimental – but is saved by a last-minute revelation that saves the day and sets up the sequel (due in 2017) – The LEGO Movie astonishes and amazes from start to finish. It’s not often that an animated movie, ostensibly aimed at children, is this entertaining for adults as well but LEGO has been a part of so many people’s lives in the last sixty-five years that it should come as no surprise that adults will get as much out of the movie as kids will. And it’s a rarer movie still that can cut across so many demographics and still retain its integrity.

Rating: 9/10 – a clever, impressive script married to a perfectly realised Lego environment makes The LEGO Movie an early contender for Animated Movie of the Year (and an earlier than expected challenge to Mr. Peabody & Sherman for that honour); sublime, exhilarating and pretty darn perfect.

Ride Along (2014)

07 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Arms deal, Blackhammer, Bruce McGill, Ice Cube, John Leguizamo, Kevin Hart, Laurence Fishburne, Omar, Review, Serbian gangsters, Tim Story

D: Tim Story / 99m

Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, John Leguizamo, Bruce McGill, Tika Sumpter, Bryan Callen, Laurence Fishburne

There’s a moment in Ride Along where the viewer – even if they’ve only ever seen one other mismatched buddy-cop movie – has to say to themselves, “Whoa, hang on!” The moment occurs when Ben (Hart) walks into a strip club convinced he’s dealing with a 126 (a nuisance call) and finds two guns pointed at him. He doesn’t realise he’s in trouble and berates the two gunmen and challenges them to shoot him (he even throws in some reverse-racist taunting as well). It’s the moment when the viewer has to throw his or her hands up in the air and say to themselves, “Okay, I know this isn’t the best mismatched buddy-cop movie in the world, but really, am I supposed to believe Ben is this dumb?” Sadly, the answer is yes.

Ride Along is yet another dispiriting movie where the premise of two mismatched people having to work together to solve a mystery or crime is trotted out with ever decreasing results. Ben is planning to marry Angela (Sumpter) but first has to get the approval of her brother, James (Cube). James is a cop and thinks Ben isn’t good enough for Angela; he’s also trying to track down and apprehend a mysterious criminal called Omar (Fishburne). Ben wants to impress James, and lets him know he’s been accepted to the police academy. In an effort to dissuade him, James invites Ben on a ride along, a day spent with James to see if Ben has what it takes to be a police officer.

There’s no prizes for guessing that while Ben makes mistake after mistake, he still manages to stumble onto clues that help James get closer to catching Omar. It’s a tried and tested (and trusted) formula, but here it’s so wrung out and poorly plotted that even the average viewer is going to shake their head in disappointment. It’s the same problem that most of these movies have to overcome: just how dumb or stupid does the main character have to be, and yet still be able to credibly help resolve whatever problem, crime or investigation is at the centre of the movie. Hart is a promising talent – he’s like a less high-pitched Chris Tucker – but as Ben he’s unable to show a through line to both parts of the character. He plays video games and it’s this that’s supposed to help him when he and James get into a firefight; but other than being able to recognise the sounds different guns make, it’s baffling how this could be of any real benefit, yet it’s treated like a major asset (and then only as briefly as it will take to read this). Hart also falls into the trap of thinking that if he shouts something loudly enough it will be funny (it’s not).

Cube clumps through the movie like it’s a contractual obligation, using his trademark scowl as if it’s the only piece of characterisation he needs. He has two expressions: mad and angry, and he uses them like weapons to batter the other characters. It’s like watching someone who’s been told he’s got a week to live and the only item on his bucket list is to be as miserable as the situation demands.

With scenes that either outstay their welcome after a couple of minutes, or fail to advance or add to the storyline, Ride Along stutters and stumbles its way from the lacklustre, poorly edited opening action sequence to the ridiculous denouement that inevitably involves Angela being put in danger by Omar. By that point, anyone who’s stayed the distance will be hoping Omar wins out and shoots both Ben and James so that we don’t have to endure the inevitable – and recently announced – sequel.

Further down the cast list we have John Leguizamo, an actor with such a varied range and filmography that he can be forgiven his involvement here, while Fishburne pops up to provide unconvincing menace as Omar. In the director’s chair, Tim Story brings a journeyman’s approach to the material, failing to add anything special to proceedings and shooting in a predictable, straightforward style. It all adds up to something that’s actually less than the sum of its parts.

Rating: 4/10 – a dire retread of an already overworked “comedy” formula, Ride Along is about as rewarding as a cold sore; derivative, embarrassing and just plain bad.

Philomena (2013)

07 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Abuse, Adoption, Catholic Church, Judi Dench, Martin Sixsmith, Michael Hess, Nuns, Philomena Lee, Review, Roscrea, Sean Ross Abbey, Stephen Frears, Steve Coogan, True story

D: Stephen Frears / 98m

Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Michelle Fairley, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Ruth McCabe, Peter Hermann, Sean Mahon, Anna Maxwell Martin

In 2004, and finding himself at a bit of a loss as to what to do after losing his job as a Labour government advisor, ex-journalist Martin Sixsmith (Coogan) is approached by the daughter of Philomena Lee (Dench) who suggests he writes a story about her. Fifty years before, Philomena was forced to give up her baby boy, Anthony, by the nuns she was staying with at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea. She has been trying to find him ever since but the nuns have always said they are unable to provide any information as to his whereabouts.

Intrigued, Sixsmith agrees to pursue the story after he meets Philomena, and they travel to Roscrea to see if they can find out anything further. Advised by Mother Barbara (McCabe) that the records relating to Philomena were lost in a fire, they later discover that the records were destroyed by the nuns in a bonfire. They also learn that the nuns were selling the children under their care, and mostly to Americans.

Martin and Philomena follow Anthony’s trail to the US. Through Martin’s contacts, he discovers that Anthony was adopted by Doc and Marge Hess, and that they renamed him Michael; they also adopted another child, Mary, the daughter of one of Philomena’s friends at the abbey. Michael grew up to be a lawyer and senior official in both the Reagan and Bush administrations, but sadly, he died in 1995. Philomena decides she wants to meet some of the people who knew Michael, including his adopted sister, Mary (Winningham). This leads to revelations about Michael’s life, and his death, that lead Philomena and Martin back to Roscrea.

With such an emotive subject, the script by Coogan and Jeff Pope, combines drama and humour and outrage in (nearly) equal measure. The early scenes, showing some of the experiences the young Philomena (Clark) endured at the abbey are quite disturbing, and while we’ve seen a more systematic, and horrifying, appraisal of this type of religious “care” in Peter Mullen’s The Magdalene Sisters, they’re still distressing enough to get across the unfeeling and harsh approach of the nuns to the young women’s “sin of fornication”. As their attempts to find out what happened to Anthony are blocked by the nuns, the movie deftly sidesteps the wider issue of Church-sanctioned neglect, and focuses on Philomena’s story instead. It’s a wise move, and allows the movie to progress almost as a mystery, with discoveries made that add to the depth of the nuns’ deception.

Once in the US, the script adds elements of Philomena’s naïveté, at the same time as revealing she knows more about certain subjects than might be expected. While there’s a certain amount of gentle mockery in these moments – she refers to several people as being “one in a million” – they’re offset by Philomena’s certainty in her own behaviour and outlook. As played by Dench, Philomena is by turns, sad, angry, resourceful, determined, resigned, grieving, and ultimately, quite heroic. There are several moments where Dench, in close-up, displays a range of emotions, and the viewer is left in no doubt as to what those emotions are, thanks to Dench’s skill as an actress. There’s not one false note in her whole performance.

Thankfully, she’s matched by Coogan, whose performance begins more as a comic turn but soon develops into a dramatic one, his character finding his way into the story more and more and becoming as determined to discover the truth as Philomena. As depicted here, Sixsmith is a bit ill-mannered, very dismissive of religion, and at times, manipulative. His attitude compliments the more open and receptive nature that Philomena displays, and as a “team” their respective strengths make them both resourceful and disarming. As they discover more and more about Michael, their reactions compliment each other as well.

Philomena is also buoyed up by confident, often impressive direction courtesy of Stephen Frears. Frears is one of the most consistently thought-provoking directors working today, and he’s particularly good at taking complex material and making it accessible to audiences. He’s helped here by the script, and by the wonderful performances, and orchestrates the various developments with great skill, making Philomena a particular pleasure to watch. In many ways, it’s British filmmaking at its best: thoughtful, intelligent, humorous, well-mounted and inspiring.

Rating: 9/10 – aside from some deviations to the actual course of events, Philomena is a poignant, uplifting tale that can raise a tear as often as a smile; a triumph for all concerned and entirely deserving of the awards it’s won so far.

Mickey Cohen’s nose

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Gangster Squad, Mickey Cohen, Sean Penn

Just watched Gangster Squad again and I’m still in awe of the schnozz they put on Sean Penn. I always hope there’s going to be an added scene where we see the nose enter a room a few seconds before the rest of Penn’s face but it never happens. It made me wonder if he could even breathe through that thing! Ah well…

Lone Survivor (2013)

04 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana, Marcus Luttrell, Mark Wahlberg, Operation Red Wings, Peter Berg, Recon mission, Review, SEALs, Taliban, Taylor Kitsch

D: Peter Berg / 121m

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Alexander Ludwig, Yousuf Azami, Ali Suliman, Sammy Sheik

Based on the book by Marcus Luttrell, a serving Navy SEAL in Afghanistan in 2005, Lone Survivor tells the story of how Luttrell and three fellow SEALs found themselves under attack from the Taliban when a mission, Operation Red Wings, went horribly wrong.

Sent to locate and if possible, terminate the life of high-ranking Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Azami), four SEALs, Luttrell (Wahlberg), Murphy (Kitsch), Dietz (Hirsch) and Axelson (Foster), find their target but at a camp where they would be heavily outnumbered if they engaged with Shah and his men. With their comms down, the group fall back to a position of safety before they attempt to reach higher ground for a better chance of their comms working. There they are discovered by a trio of goat herders. Stopping them from getting away, Luttrell and the rest of the team are faced with the dilemma of what to do with them. The SEALs can either let them go, tie them up and leave them (with a good chance that the goat herders would perish after time), or kill them outright there and then. Dietz and Axelson are keen for the third option to happen but Luttrell argues against it, until Murphy, as the team leader, decides they must be let go, despite knowing that the trio will tell the Taliban their location. With the goat herders released, the four men have to get to higher ground and try and contact their base so they can be rescued.

Soon, Shah’s militia have caught up with them and the SEALs find themselves in a running firefight. Still trying to contact their base, one by one the men are either shot or suffer injuries – Axelson twists an ankle, Dietz loses two or three fingers – that hamper their escape. And one by one, the SEALs lose their lives until only Luttrell remains. Faced with the daunting task of making it out alive by himself, Luttrell’s luck changes when he is discovered by nearby Pashtun villagers led by Gulab (Suliman). He is given shelter while the villagers arrange for the nearest US base to be contacted, and Luttrell’s rescue can be effected. Before that can happen, though, Shah’s men, led by second-in-command Taraq (Sheik), learn of his whereabouts and attack the village…

Luttrell’s story is a remarkable one, a true tale of heroism and courage set against tremendous odds, and one in which his determination to survive reinforces how powerful that determination can be in an individual. It’s worth noting that when Luttrell was found by the Pashtun villagers he had a number of fractures, a broken back, and various shrapnel wounds; later he sustained a gunshot wound as well. We should salute the man’s bravery. Lone Survivor is a testament to that, and to the team’s bravery as a whole.

However, under Peter Berg’s direction, Lone Survivor doesn’t quite hit the mark. The one thing that’s missing from the movie is, perversely, any real sense of who these men are, even Luttrell. We get no back stories, just perfunctory mentions of family back home, and the by-now familiar hazing that goes on in probably every military unit around the world. All four men are presented as there were at that point in time; there’s no depth, no understanding of why these men have become SEALs or what it means to them. In many ways, the script – adapted by Berg from Luttrell’s memoir – avoids getting to know these men, and this has a desensitising effect when they’re ambushed later in the movie. When they come under fire, and begin sustaining injuries, there’s no emotional connection for the audience to make. There are two scenes where the men are forced to put distance between them and Shah’s men by hurling themselves down rocky hillsides. Instead of wincing at the punishment being (self-)inflicted, the viewer is instead left admiring the stunt work involved.

The extended encounter between the SEALs and the Taliban is set up well and there is a degree of tension before the first shot is fired. After that, though, the movie settles for becoming the cinematic version of a video game, with – for the viewer – increased confusion as to where each man is in relation to the other, and even to their enemy. When Murphy reaches a ledge where he can use his satellite phone to contact the base, it seems too far from where his comrades are, at that point, pinned down. The same applies when Axelson is separated from Luttrell; again he appears to have travelled some considerable distance (albeit to no avail). It’s these little anomalies that undermine the narrative and keep the firelight from being as tense and exciting as it should be. When Luttrell finally manages to elude his attackers and is found by his rescuers, you have no real idea of how far he’s travelled, or even how he’s managed to avoid detection.

With all the attention given over to the physical exploits on display, there’s little for Wahlberg et al to do but decry each successive injury and show how much pain they are in. Even in the relatively quieter moments in the village, where Luttrell befriends a young boy, there’s little for Wahlberg to do except look fearful and in pain (although there is a wonderful moment involving the word ‘knife’).

Ultimately, Lone Survivor feels like a movie that has just missed out on its full potential. Berg’s direction is more than adequate for the material and while his script doesn’t help his own efforts in that area, he still manages to elicit good performances from his lead players. The photography is polished and shows off the rugged countryside where the action takes place to often beautiful effect, and the sound editing is appropriately exciting and immersive during the firefight. With a couple of uncredited appearances by Luttrell – watch for the SEAL who knocks over the coffee that newbie Patton (Ludwig) then has to clear up – Lone Survivor may have that participant’s blessing, but its audience will feel they need a lot more before they can give theirs.

Rating: 7/10 – while the action sequences are expertly staged and executed, they’re still not as exciting as they should have been, and the performances are bogged down by a lack of depth; not a complete misfire, but one that needed to beef up the characters and engage the audience’s sympathy a whole lot more.

The 86th Annual Academy Awards – The Oscars 2014

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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12 Years a Slave, Academy Awards, Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett, Dallas Buyers Club, Ellen DeGeneres, Frozen, Gravity, Heroes, Matthew McConaughey, Steve McQueen, The Great Gatsby

Well, here we are again, falling to our knees in observance of the Oscars, that annual back-slap-athon where Hollywood’s mightiest (and occasionally humblest) come together to give their finest performances, particularly if they’re nominated but don’t win – the cameras are watching! Here then are the winners (and losers), my views on the ceremony, Ellen DeGeneres as host, the jokes, the acceptance speeches, and who got those all-important statuettes… and whether they deserved them. All this, and in a fraction of the time it takes to stage the whole show. Winners in bold.

The show got off to a good start with Ellen DeGeneres wisecracking through a great opening monologue, taking the mickey out of Jennifer Lawrence’s trip from last year, June Squibb’s age, actors as college alumni (apparently Amy Adams didn’t go) and congratulating the guy impersonating Liza Minnelli. The theme of the night was Movie Heroes and there were … montages shown throughout the show, as well as Bette Midler singing The Wind Beneath My Wings as a follow-on to the In Memoriam segment. Ellen also set up a great running gag involving ordering in pizza (which for once, didn’t seem like it had been rehearsed). But she also stumbled over her words a lot, and seemed distracted; a couple of times she wasn’t even ready to camera (let’s get the Bring Back Billy Crystal campaign going now!).

There was a tribute to The Wizard of Oz sung by Pink that was as effective as it was unexpected, the usual live performances of songs nominated for Best Original Song, and fortunately, no embarrassing moments where speeches too far over while someone thanked their auntie, their budgie and/or God (that was left to one of the winners). Over all, it was an entertaining show but it still couldn’t avoid some of the usual pitfalls – the length, the awkwardness of certain presenters, wheeling out someone on their last legs (this year, Sidney Poitier), and clips that showed several actors shouting at each other as if that’s a sign of good acting.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street

The right choice, but the longest, most excited speech of the night by Steve McQueen, and then he started jumping about! Presented by Will Smith.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Christian Bale (American Hustle), Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

No problems here except for McConaughey’s rambling, though emotional speech. Presented by Jennifer Lawrence.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams (American Hustle), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena), Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

A superb performance given its rightful due properly rewarded and with a pro-women stance in her speech from Blanchett. Presented by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street), Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Leto made a really good speech thanking his mother in particular and made reference to the troubles in Ukraine and Venezuela; a good start to the evening, and a well-deserved award. Presented by Anne Hathaway.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Julia Roberts (August: Osage County), June Squibb (Nebraska)

A standing ovation for Nyong’o tops an amazing year for the actress, and her emotional speech was a highlight. Presented by Christoph Waltz.

Best Achievement in Directing

Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), David O. Russell (American Hustle), Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Absolutely the right result and confirmation (as if it was needed) of the effort and work Cuarón put into making Gravity. Presented by Angelina Jolie and Sidney Poitier.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine), Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club), Spike Jonze (Her), Bob Nelson (Nebraska), Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell (American Hustle)

A popular choice and a bit of a surprise, but it could have gone to any of the nominees. Presented by Robert De Niro and Penelope Cruz.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope (Philomena), Richard Linklater (Before Midnight), Billy Ray (Captain Phillips), John Ridley (12 Years a Slave), Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Spot-on and an easy choice though, noticeably, no mention for Steve McQueen in Ridley’s acceptance speech. Presented by Robert De Niro and Penelope Cruz.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Célestine, Frozen, The Wind Rises

Wow, another big surprise – not! Still, a great result though it would have been nice to see Ernest & Célestine win the Oscar. Notable for Disney’s first win in this category, and strangely, just when there wasn’t a Pixar movie in the running. Presented by Kim Novak and Matthew McConaughey.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Great Beauty, The Hunt, The Missing Picture, Omar

A great win for a great movie, and one of the easiest awards of the evening to predict. Presented by Ewan McGregor and Viola Davis.

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Roger Deakins (Prisoners), Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis), Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster), Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity), Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)

Predictable win but should have gone to Phedon Papamichael; the first big disappointment (for me) of the evening. Presented by Amy Adams and Bill Murray.

Best Achievement in Editing

Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers (American Hustle), Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger (Gravity), Martin Pensa, John Mac McMurphy (Dallas Buyers Club), Christopher Rouse (Captain Phillips), Joe Walker (12 Years a Slave)

Let the Gravity backlash continue! Captain Phillips was by far the better edited movie nominated and should have won hands down. Presented by Anna Kendrick and Gabey Sidoureh.

Best Achievement in Production Design

K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena (Her), Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler (American Hustle), Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn (The Great Gatsby), Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard (Gravity), Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker (12 Years a Slave)

Awarded after the award for Costume Design (see below) and a well-deserved double for Catherine Martin. Presented by Jennifer Garner and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

William Chang Suk Ping (The Grandmaster), Catherine Martin (The Great Gatsby), Patricia Norris (12 Years a Slave), Michael O’Connor (The Invisible Woman), Michael Wilkinson (American Hustle)

Unsurprising win for Mrs Luhrmann. Presented by Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua Casny (The Lone Ranger), Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews (Dallas Buyers Club), Steve Prouty (Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa)

Again, an unsurprising win; it almost seemed as if the other two movies were there just so there could be a list. Presented by Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

William Butler, Andy Koyama (Her), Alexandre Desplat (Philomena), Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks), Steven Price (Gravity), John Williams (The Book Thief)

A good result for a Brit, but not so sure that either Desplat or Newman shouldn’t have won instead. Presented by Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez – Let It Go (Frozen), Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr, Brian Burton – Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Karen O – The Moon Song (Her), Pharrell Williams – Happy (Despicable Me 2)

Fun acceptance speech and one of the best of the night but it should have been given to The Moon Song – at this stage both Frozen and The Great Gatsby had won more awards than 12 Years a Slave. Presented by Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro (Captain Phillips), Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow (Lone Survivor), Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro (Gravity), Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland (Inside Llewyn Davis)

Again, not much of a surprise, but should really have gone to Captain Phillips. Presented by Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns (All Is Lost), Brent Burge (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Glenn Freemantle (Gravity), Wylie Stateman (Lone Survivor), Oliver Tarney (Captain Phillips)

See above. Presented by Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron.

Best Achievement in Special Effects

Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier (The Lone Ranger), Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Ben Grossman, Burt Dalton (Star Trek: Into Darkness), Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Daniel Sudick (Iron Man 3), Timothy Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould (Gravity)

If Gravity hadn’t won then there should have been a steward’s enquiry; well-deserved and absolutely the one undeniable shoo-in of the ceremony. Presented by Emma Watson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Best Documentary, Feature

The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, The Square, 20 Feet from Stardom

First real surprise of the night given that everyone pretty much expected The Act of Killing to win, and a chance to hear the amazing Darlene Love in full voice. Presented by Bradley Cooper.

Best Documentary, Short Subject

Cavedigger, Facing Fear, Karama Has No Walls, The Lady in No 6, Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

A moving piece and well-deserved, and a tribute to Alice Sommer-Herz who sadly died a week ago. Presented by Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis.

Best Short Film, Animated

Feral, Get a Horse!, Mr Hublot, Possessions, Room on the Broom

A great win for this French movie, and much deserved, in what was a very close category. Presented by Kim Novak and Matthew McConaughey.

Best Short Film, Live Action

Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?, Helium, Just Before Losing Everything, That Wasn’t Me, The Voorman Problem

A great result and proof that the Academy gets it right pretty much every time in the “minor” short film categories. Presented by Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis.

10 Reasons to Remember Alain Resnais (1922-2014)

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Alain Resnais, Documentaries, French New Wave, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad, Life of Riley, Night and Fog

Alain Resnais (3 June 1922 – 1 March 2014)

The career of Alain Resnais, which spanned over six decades, was a tribute to his ability to take complex notions of time and memory and make intricate, yet accessible movies around those same notions. Watching Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) and Last Year at Marienbad (1961) – two of his most well-known movies – one is immediately struck by the way he bends narrative strands to sometimes hallucinatory effect.

Resnais was working in film long before then, though, making short features and documentaries (two of which are now believed lost). He was also an editor, only leaving that aspect of filmmaking behind when he became a director. His breakthrough was the quietly devastating Holocaust documentary Night and Fog (1955). Shot in black and white and letting the graphic images speak for themselves, Night and Fog is still a difficult watch even today.

In the Sixties, he was linked to the French New Wave but didn’t regard his work as part of that movement, preferring to work with authors such as Marguerite Duras and Jacques Sternberg, and refine his aptitude for movies about the passing of time and our relationship to it. He could be both stringent and playful, and always thought-provoking. Although his later projects didn’t achieve the kind of box office results his first few features did, they were still critically well-received, even when he moved towards making movies that explored the relation between cinema and other cultural forms such as music and theatre. His last movie, Life of Riley, an adaptation of a play by Alan Ayckbourn, will be released later this month.

A true original, with a distinct cinematic aesthetic, Resnais will be sorely missed. And here are ten reasons why.

1 – Night and Fog (1955)

2 – Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

3 – Last Year in Marienbad (1961)

4 – Muriel, or the Time of Return (1963)

5 – Je t’aime je t’aime (1968)

6 – Providence (1977)

7 – My American Uncle (1980)

8 – Love Unto Death (1984)

9 – Smoking/No Smoking (1993)

10 – Private Fears in Public Places (2006)

Swerve (2011)

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Australia, Broken Hill, Craig Lahiff, Crime thriller, David Lyons, Emma Booth, Femme fatale, Jason Clarke, Outback, Review, Stolen money

D: Craig Lahiff / 86m

Cast: Jason Clarke, Emma Booth, David Lyons, Travis McMahon, Vince Colosimo, Roy Billing, Chris Haywood

While travelling across the Australian desert region near Broken Hill, Colin (Lyons) happens upon a road accident. He finds a dead man, a briefcase full of money, and, as this is a modern day noir thriller, a femme fatale in the form of Jina (Booth), who’s also the cause of the accident. Colin takes her home and then heads into Broken Hill to hand in the money to the local sheriff (Clarke). Everything is going okay, and Colin is preparing to continue on his way, when the sheriff, Frank, insists he come home with him to meet his wife as a gesture for being so public spirited. (There’s no prizes for guessing just who Frank’s wife turns out to be.) When the money goes missing, and a “representative” of the people the money was intended for shows up – with murderous intent – the fragile relationship between Frank, Jina and Colin begins to unravel.

What follows is a well-crafted thriller where, Colin aside, you’re never entirely sure who’s conning who, or if Jina can be entirely trusted, despite her obvious desire to get away from Frank (who is abusive and jealous). Colin is the only “straight” character in the whole movie and although he does learn to become a bit more devious by the movie’s end, it’s still intriguing to see just how much has to happen to him before his natural attitude changes. Lyons plays the part to perfection, and while he is adequately matched by Clarke as the increasingly dysfunctional Frank, it’s his integrity that actually holds the attention.

Clarke has since gone on to bigger things: Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, Baz Luhrmann’s sumptuous The Great Gatsby, and White House Down. Clarke is an intense actor, and he imbues Frank with a charming edginess that makes watching him an uneasy experience; you’re never too sure just how he’s going to react at any given moment, or in any given situation. When a subplot involving the death of one of Frank’s deputies comes to the fore, Clarke ups the ante and makes Frank an even darker character than before but without sacrificing any credibility.

As Jina, a lot is required of Emma Booth as the character is the linchpin of the whole movie. From the moment we see her racing down the highway, to the movie’s denouement, Booth displays just the right amounts of complexity and vulnerability to give her character a bruised steeliness that makes the viewer, like Colin, want to protect and mistrust her at the same time.

Lahiff, returning to feature film-making after a nine year hiatus, carries the audience through each twist and turn of the plot with skilled assurance, and makes great use of the desert locations; on occasion, David Foreman’s cinematography is stunning. The script, also by Lahiff, is pared down to the bone and there’s not one superfluous moment or scene in the entire movie, an aspect helped immeasurably by Lahiff’s brother Sean being the movie’s editor.

Rating: 7/10 – an unpretentious and accomplished thriller from Down Under and the kind of movie the Aussies do so well; good performances and beautiful location work help Swerve stand out from the crowd.

Originally posted on thedullwoodexperiment website.

Mini-Review: Tracks (2013)

02 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

1700 Miles, Aboriginal lands, Adam Driver, Australia, Camels, Emma Booth, John Curran, Mia Wasikowska, Outback, Review, Robyn Davidson, True story

D: John Curran / 110m

Cast: Mia Wasikowski, Adam Driver, Emma Booth, Jessica Tovey, Rainer Bock, Robert Coleby, Roly Mintuma

An adaptation of Robyn Davidson’s account of her 1977 trek across 1700 miles of Australian countryside, from the interior to the Indian ocean, accompanied by four camels and her faithful dog, John Curran’s film is a beautiful, life-affirming odyssey that shows the highs and the lows of Davidson’s trip, and doesn’t shrink from showing her as naive, stubborn and arrogant alongside being focused, resourceful and kind-hearted. Helped by sponsorship from National Geographic magazine and “assisted” by NG photographer Rick Smolan (Driver), Davidson (Wasikowska) sets off on a journey that few people think she will finish. Along the way she meets and receives help from a variety of sources, including Mr Eddie (Mintuma), who helps guide her across sacred Aboriginal land. She faces hardship and heartbreak, and retains a dogged determination throughout.

By the journey’s end, you’re almost as pleased to see the ocean as she is. Wasikowska – who wasn’t even born when this project was first mooted – captures Davidson’s spirit and tenacity perfectly, and convinces in a number of subtly demanding scenes. Her fresh-faced appearance suits the role, and she is ably supported by Driver and the rest of the cast. Curran’s direction is unfussy and the journey unfolds at a measured pace that matches the time it took Davidson to travel those 1700 miles. As you’d expect, the scenery is stunning, and Mandy Walker’s cinematography shows off every vista and open landscape to beautiful effect. If there is anything that lets down the movie it’s the relative lack of incident – over 1700 miles there are only two events that, after viewing the film, will stay in the memory. Still, Tracks is an absorbing, impressive feature, and as you might expect, the camels steal every scene they’re in.

Rating: 8/10 – a true-life adventure given a respectful but intelligent approach; with vast swathes of the Australian outback on view, this is also breathtaking to watch.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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ANC, Apartheid, Idris Elba, Justin Chadwick, Long trousers, Naomie Harris, Nelson Mandela, President de Klerk, Prisoner, Review, Robben Island, South Africa, True story, Winnie Mandela

D: Justin Chadwick / 141m

Cast: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Simo Mogwaza, Fana Mokoena, Thapelo Mokoena

Since its publication in 1995, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom has been one of those books that was always going to be adapted for the big screen; Mandela’s life was just too extraordinary to be ignored. And now, thanks to producer Anant Singh, overseer of the project since the book’s publication, we now have fifty years of Mandela’s life condensed down into two hours and twenty one minutes. Is it enough? Perhaps…

The movie opens in 1942. Mandela is a lawyer along with Oliver Tambo. He works within the courts system and in his spare time, boxes. He marries and has two children. He is aware of the political injustice prevalent in South Africa, but has yet to become politicised. When, in 1950, he witnesses a demonstration that advocates boycotting the buses – because the fares have increased unfairly – it triggers something inside him that makes him join the African National Congress. Now a revolutionary, he supports non-violent means of attacking the system, but when the massacre at Sharpeville occurs in 1960, he realises that violence is a necessary tool against the Afrikaaners. During this period, he also meets and takes as his second wife Winnie Madikizela (Harris), his first marriage having ended when he became radicalised. Arrested in 1962 (according to the movie), Mandela is tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. Along with seven other ANC members he is transported to Robben Island. During his internment he remains an important figure within the ANC, but while he learns to approach the problem of apartheid by promoting peace, violent demonstrations and clashes with the police continue to occur across South Africa. When the government comes calling with the promise of his being released if he helps quell the violence – by renouncing it – Mandela is faced with opposition from both Winnie and right-wing factions within the ANC. He gains his release, begins to put into place his vision for a united South Africa, and this is where the movie ends, with Mandela having become president.

Adapting such a complex book was always going to be a challenge, and in the hands of William Nicholson, the screenplay does its best to cover the key moments in Mandela’s life without seeming like a hagiography. However, this leads to many events being given a brief amount of screen time, and it becomes difficult on occasion to judge the importance of some of those events – for example, when Mandela and his fellow ANC members arrive at Robben Island, only one of them is given long trousers to wear, the rest, including Mandela, have to wear shorts. Mandela campaigns to have long trousers for everyone, but his persistence – as well as the script’s – is free from explanation. Elsewhere, Winnie’s own imprisonment – sixteen months in solitary confinement at one point – is referred to only when she gets out. And therein lies another problem: the script shies away from making anything too unpalatable for the viewer. Robben Island was an awful place, with cells that were too small, and living conditions that were designed to sap the will. And yet, Mandela seems to get on okay there; you could argue that he even flourishes. Winnie’s change from supportive wife and mother to violence advocating activist is presented in broad brush strokes, and while Harris convinces in an otherwise underwritten role, there’s too little character development for her, or the viewer, to latch onto. (It doesn’t help that, due to the need to focus on Mandela, Winnie appears only here and there in the narrative, and in the end, she becomes the violent “face” of the ANC, a political boogeyman that Mandela is forced to distance himself from.)

With too many years to cover and too many incidents and events to fit in, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom suffers in the long run, and ends up like a potted history of one man’s turbulent life. There’s also a semi-reverential tone that stops the movie from being too emotive, even when the characters are suffering or events such as the Sharpeville massacre take centre stage (this tragedy, where children were killed as well as adults, is over in a matter of minutes; there’s no time to fully appreciate the horror of the impending situation nor its aftermath, and not in the way that, say, Richard Attenborough addressed the massacre at Amritsar in Gandhi). With the movie thus appearing flat and with no appreciable highs and lows, it’s like being told about someone’s life but by someone who can’t quite connect with, or understand, the events they’re relating.

As Mandela, Elba gives a superb, measured performance that, thankfully, makes up for a lot of the movie’s inefficiencies (good luck to anyone trying to work out who’s who in the ANC and on Robben Island; they may have names in the credits but they’re certainly not identified in the movie). Elba dominates the movie, nailing the husky cadences of Mandela’s speech, and projecting an authoritative aura in the movie’s later stages when dealing with the government’s representatives and the political liability that Winnie has become. He is never less than convincing throughout, and it’s a tribute to Elba that he manages to imbue Mandela with a spiritual quality that the script downplays and which might otherwise have been missed. In support, Harris matches Elba for commitment and avoids demonising Winnie for her beliefs. It’s a far more subtle performance than it first appears.

Hampered by the script, director Chadwick nevertheless manages to keep the movie interesting and rightly trains the camera on Elba as much as he can. There’s a fine score courtesy of Alex Heffes, as well as crisp, warm cinematography from Lol Crawley. With glorious location work, and good performances all round, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom doesn’t fly as high as you’d hope, but it does offer a fairly straightforward account of Mandela’s life over fifty years and the struggles he – and his country – endured during that period.

Rating: 7/10 – solid if unspectacular production raised up a notch or two by Elba’s excellent performance; worthy, yes, but also dull in places, and lacking in verve.

That Awkward Moment (2014)

01 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Bromance, Commitment, Dating, Friends, Imogen Poots, Marriage, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Relationships, Review, Romance, Tom Gormican, Zac Efron

D: Tom Gormican / 92m

Cast: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis, Jessica Lucas, Addison Timlin, Josh Pais

With the rom-com feeling like it’s hit a bit of a rut at the moment, this male-centric offering from first-time writer/director Gormican seems – at first glance – to offer something a little bit different.

When Mikey (Jordan) tells his friends Jason (Efron) and Daniel (Teller) that his wife, Vera (Lucas) wants a divorce, it prompts them to make a pact: to avoid serious, long-term relationships and revisit their younger days when they partied and flirted and drifted from woman to woman. For Jason and Daniel this isn’t so difficult as this is what they’re already doing; for Mikey it proves a little bit harder as he still wants to rescue his marriage.

Jason meets Ellie (Poots) at a bar and they go back to her place. A misunderstanding sees him leave before she wakes the next morning, but already he’s smitten. When they meet again where he works as a book jacket designer (in tandem with Daniel), they resume their fledgling relationship, and begin spending more time together. Daniel, who uses his friend Chelsea (Davis) to pick up girls, finds himself becoming attracted to her; their friendship evolves into their becoming lovers themselves. With Mikey rekindling his marriage to Vera, all three men find themselves reneging on the pact they made. Afraid of ruining their own relationships, the men find themselves struggling to admit their feelings for the women in their lives, both to themselves and to each other.

That Awkward Moment is, at heart, more of a bromance than a romantic comedy, with the relationship between Jason, Daniel and Mikey taking centre stage. With this in mind it’s easy to dismiss the movie as a “guys-can-be-jerks-but-deep-down-they’re-really-sensitive” modern-day fairy tale. They’re all good guys and they have an obviously close bond but they can’t seem to relate that well to women, until they meet the right ones (or in Mikey’s case, fail to call her back). There’s the usual missteps and misunderstandings along the way, a couple of minor emotional upheavals, and the sight of Efron and Teller both attempting to pee while dealing with the effects of Viagra. The humour is generally low-key (there are few laugh-out-loud moments), and some scenes are entertaining in an offbeat way, but the way in which the guys lie and deceive each other is wearing and uninspired. It’s this haphazard approach that keeps the movie from being as insightful as it would like to be, and as original as it thinks it is.

Of the male leads, Teller (recently revealed to be the new Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four reboot) fares best, his rapid fire delivery and caustic put-downs infused with a nervous energy that suits his often dismissive character. Jordan is required to look either bemused or credulous a lot, and while his character is the most likeable of the three, he gets less screen time. It’s Efron, though, who gets a bit of a raw deal. Jason is, to put it bluntly, a bit of a prick. He’s a commitment-phobe who balks when the women he’s seeing start to ask where their relationship is going (the awkward moment of the title), and he badly disappoints Ellie at a time when she really needs him. He views being “serious” as something to be avoided, even when he is clearly falling in love; why he’s so repressed in this area is never satisfactorily explored or explained. As a consequence, Efron is hard-pressed to make Jason sympathetic; he just makes too many easily avoided mistakes.

As the slightly kooky Ellie, Poots cements her rising star status, while Davis’s confident turn should ensure her career gains momentum, but Lucas is saddled with a one-note character who is never developed in a way that would make her interesting. The script is at fault here, and it’s this lack of attention to some of the characters that stops the movie from breaking out of its own shell. That aside, there are some good moments – Jason attending a party and misunderstanding the dress code, Daniel and Chelsea’s friendship evolving into something more serious – but there aren’t enough of them to make up for the shortage elsewhere.

Under Gormican’s direction, That Awkward Moment ambles through its running time, neither pleasing its audience entirely or taking too many risks. The material wears thin too soon, and there’s not enough depth to make the interplay between the couples anything less than perfunctory. There’s the germ of a good idea here, but Gormican can’t quite get it to flower.

Rating: 5/10 – below par bromantic comedy that never takes off or seems to want to; a patchy script means a patchy movie and a severely weakened premise.

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