Wanted: sex, violence, dark comedy, violence, more violence.
Reward: James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, two of the hottest film stars of the moment kicking ass on screen.
This is quite a film and possibly the best translation of comic book to screen in recent years (although I am still waiting for 'Hellboy II' and 'Batman' to make appearances later this year.)
You can't really say much about action films except that they're actiony then go on to add comments about any other stand-out bonuses to the genre. This film is sexy. It's fast. It's dark, oh so dark.
My viewing partner and I both enjoyed this flick tremendously although said partner was hacked off with the running narration from McAvoy. This became the only view we disagreed on regarding this film. I thought the narration added an even darker, more sarcastic, overtone to the film (especially setting the tone at the beginning) whilst partner thought it was unnecessary due to the visuals doing the same job. However, it's a really stupid story. Take one young man, allegedly destined for greatness, and scoop him up from his dreary and embarrassingly underwhelming life and dump him into a world of gun toting, knife welding, kick ass super-agents who want to train him up to become the man his father never could be.
Angelina is the greatest hard-core female agent I've ever seen on screen. She's awesome - literally. How can you not love this woman? (But what would the old school feminists say? Oh, heck a girl's gotta let off steam once in a while...) McAvoy is superb as the nerdy, bullied office monkey turned superhero. But why couldn't he have kept his wonderful Scots accent??? Morgan Freeman plays the head honcho under whose orders the gang respond to and in whose headquarters all the agents live happily together in a weirdly bloody weaving factory come training camp.
Without giving it all away, McAvoy is drafted into the team and is rewarded with physical powers beyond his imagination. He also gets the opportunity to dish some some sweet revenge on his bratty girlfriend and shitty best mate. You'll agree that this is their just deserts once you see the film and how they treated this once mild-mannered fellow. There's plenty of blood and pain dished out in the training and even more once in the field. The agents get their 'hit' orders from a code which appears in the warp and weft of the fabric created by a ginormous weaving machine... go figure.
Lots of stuff happens. It gets dark. Then it gets a bit darker. Then it goes slightly silly then it ends. Bang. There's double crossing all over the shop but frankly, I'm sure most viewers didn't even give a damn who's on whose side. I certainly didn't although I know if there's ever a sequel, all bets are off as to who's left to star in it! Enough said.
After all that silly, violent darkness, I have only one real criticism. I just wish Danny Elfman would cool it with the overblown and therefore totally offensive sound tracks. I've had enough. Really. Less is more Danny. Take note. I know you're good at what you do but heck, give Clint Mansell a chance. He knows what he's doing, too.
Jolie and McAvoy are gorgeous and work hard to keep the pace flowing. It's a totally indulgent and ultra violent, but very clever and extremely visually creative and stunning, film. And after all, which other films can claim to have made an ancient skill exciting again? No, I don't mean hand to hand combat or even a martial art... Weaving has never been so cool!
(Viewed 25/06/08)
Sunday, 6 July 2008
The Happening ~~
M. Night Shyamalan, the director, is possibly the next Hitchcock. But not quite. His films are going to have to get a bit better than this offering. He's exceptionally good at building tension in all his films' but often lacks the kick in the ass at the end which the audience have come to expect. Or, perhaps I'm totally wrong and I've already become a desensitised and hyper-critical viewer?
The story goes like this - suburban high-school teacher Mark Walberg is happily teaching away when suddenly shit starts to happen in a nearby city. No-one is quite sure what's going on but slowly reports start to emerge that people are dying. And not just dying, they're willing killing themselves. Is this another zombie movie you ask? No. Guess again. You'll never guess. Oh, go on. What do you think? Virus, dirty-bomb? No, guess again. That's all I'm going to say on that matter.
Whatever. Mayhem and violence ensue and pretty soon everyone, EVERYONE, is running about trying to get away from the birds... doh, I didn't mean birds, I meant whatever it is. (If I'd seen more Hitchcock films I could probably have gone on taking the piss out of the genre and inserting various options into the 'baddie' space for quite some time.)
Walberg, girlfriend, best friend and daughter hatch a plan to exit the city as soon as possible, board a train then find the 'evil' heading their way. They all run. A lot. Then some more. Hard work. Lots of people die all over the place. Theories abound as to what's caused the now world-wide massacre until suddenly, science teacher Marky Mark has a thought. It could be the... (shall'nt ruin it for you.)
The film makers have a good stab at injecting some emotional tension into the flick but frankly, it's a bit crap and therefore lost on me. All I really cared about in the end was whether Walberg was going to do battle with something supernatural like Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis got to in their Shyamalan films. I think I missed the point, or the point missed me.
Don't get me wrong, there were some memorable bits in the film. There's a funny scene when, having broken into a strangers house for refuge, Walberg is thinking out loud and then begins to start questioning a plastic house plant. (It will make sense when you see the film.) And it's suitably scary in parts. I jumped at least 3 inches out of my chair for one particular scene.
The real climax of the film is also pretty tense. At the end of the world, it does make you wonder whether you too would risk it all to be with the one you love.
There's an extremely pertinent point made about the disappearance of the bees (which is bloody true right now and could in fact mark the beginning of the end for us humans...) as well as intelligent comments about the poor state of our planet in general. And believe me, you too will end up wondering if, when the wind is blowing in your direction, they will get you in the end........
A 'could do better' film. Although, I sense that this is still an improvement on Shyamalan's last submission, the mermaid thingy which I avoided like the plague but was told I was right to do so and that it didn't make any sense and was generally a bit crap. This certainly had to be better than that? Comments please.
(Viewed 18/06/08)
The story goes like this - suburban high-school teacher Mark Walberg is happily teaching away when suddenly shit starts to happen in a nearby city. No-one is quite sure what's going on but slowly reports start to emerge that people are dying. And not just dying, they're willing killing themselves. Is this another zombie movie you ask? No. Guess again. You'll never guess. Oh, go on. What do you think? Virus, dirty-bomb? No, guess again. That's all I'm going to say on that matter.
Whatever. Mayhem and violence ensue and pretty soon everyone, EVERYONE, is running about trying to get away from the birds... doh, I didn't mean birds, I meant whatever it is. (If I'd seen more Hitchcock films I could probably have gone on taking the piss out of the genre and inserting various options into the 'baddie' space for quite some time.)
Walberg, girlfriend, best friend and daughter hatch a plan to exit the city as soon as possible, board a train then find the 'evil' heading their way. They all run. A lot. Then some more. Hard work. Lots of people die all over the place. Theories abound as to what's caused the now world-wide massacre until suddenly, science teacher Marky Mark has a thought. It could be the... (shall'nt ruin it for you.)
The film makers have a good stab at injecting some emotional tension into the flick but frankly, it's a bit crap and therefore lost on me. All I really cared about in the end was whether Walberg was going to do battle with something supernatural like Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis got to in their Shyamalan films. I think I missed the point, or the point missed me.
Don't get me wrong, there were some memorable bits in the film. There's a funny scene when, having broken into a strangers house for refuge, Walberg is thinking out loud and then begins to start questioning a plastic house plant. (It will make sense when you see the film.) And it's suitably scary in parts. I jumped at least 3 inches out of my chair for one particular scene.
The real climax of the film is also pretty tense. At the end of the world, it does make you wonder whether you too would risk it all to be with the one you love.
There's an extremely pertinent point made about the disappearance of the bees (which is bloody true right now and could in fact mark the beginning of the end for us humans...) as well as intelligent comments about the poor state of our planet in general. And believe me, you too will end up wondering if, when the wind is blowing in your direction, they will get you in the end........
A 'could do better' film. Although, I sense that this is still an improvement on Shyamalan's last submission, the mermaid thingy which I avoided like the plague but was told I was right to do so and that it didn't make any sense and was generally a bit crap. This certainly had to be better than that? Comments please.
(Viewed 18/06/08)
Smart People ~~
Whilst on a flying visit to London, I took the opportunity to go and see something which our local cinemas' (not one, but two in this small city) often fail to show. An 'independent' film. Unfortunately, for all it's merits, Smart People does nothing to prove that the big cinema's are wrong on not showing 'blockbusters' all of the frigging time. A real pity, on all fronts. But still, shame on you two of the biggest cinema chains in the UK. What's wrong with a bit of variety??? (And Smart People isn't even that much of an 'independent' (whatever that means when it's in inverted commas) film.)
Cutting to the chase. This is a flick about academically smart people who happen to be pretty dumb at normal life stuff like falling in love, relating to other people and cooking. Or so we are told here.
Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page are the stand out performances whilst Thomas Haden Church does a good impression of the character he played in 'Sideways'. Page is just lovely, lovely, lovely but wasn't given any really meaty lines to get her teeth into as the emotionally stunted and friendless, politically active teenager-daughter. Quaid just about keeps hold on the emotionally distant, work obsessed University Professor-father character, getting to grips with life after the death of his wife. The appearance of his down and out brother (Church) sends his character into quite a spin ultimately pushing him into an explosion of emotion enabling him to deal with his own personal issues.
Sarah Jessica Parker makes an appearance as the love interest, as an ex-student of Quaid's interested in helping him towards the path of sexual and emotional salvation. Again, Parker isn't given a good enough portion of the script and the character just isn't justified enough through the story-telling.
What begins as a potentially dark little comedy about a dysfunctional family on the verge of individual collapse ends so unsatisfyingly that way before the credits, I just didn't care. There are a few glimmers of what I thought the writer and director were trying to get at but overall, just not enough of the good stuff to sustain.
If you want to see what this film could have been like, go and see Michael Douglas act weird in 'Wonder Boys'.
(Viewed 25/05/08)
Cutting to the chase. This is a flick about academically smart people who happen to be pretty dumb at normal life stuff like falling in love, relating to other people and cooking. Or so we are told here.
Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page are the stand out performances whilst Thomas Haden Church does a good impression of the character he played in 'Sideways'. Page is just lovely, lovely, lovely but wasn't given any really meaty lines to get her teeth into as the emotionally stunted and friendless, politically active teenager-daughter. Quaid just about keeps hold on the emotionally distant, work obsessed University Professor-father character, getting to grips with life after the death of his wife. The appearance of his down and out brother (Church) sends his character into quite a spin ultimately pushing him into an explosion of emotion enabling him to deal with his own personal issues.
Sarah Jessica Parker makes an appearance as the love interest, as an ex-student of Quaid's interested in helping him towards the path of sexual and emotional salvation. Again, Parker isn't given a good enough portion of the script and the character just isn't justified enough through the story-telling.
What begins as a potentially dark little comedy about a dysfunctional family on the verge of individual collapse ends so unsatisfyingly that way before the credits, I just didn't care. There are a few glimmers of what I thought the writer and director were trying to get at but overall, just not enough of the good stuff to sustain.
If you want to see what this film could have been like, go and see Michael Douglas act weird in 'Wonder Boys'.
(Viewed 25/05/08)
Indiana Jones 4 ~~ (and a bit for nostalgia)
The best thing about this film was it wasn't as disappointing as we all thought it would be. So it's a winner all round.
Goodies, baddies, jumping about, the Fedora, bull-whip, Marion, sneaky tributes to Marcus Brody, jungles, natives with weapons, action, adventure, double crossing and aliens (what the...) all wrapped up with lots of archaeological goodness. What joy! Seriously though, aliens? Mind you, my viewing partner did point out that if I could accept the otherworldliness of the Ark or the mind numbingly OTT cup of Christ situation in the previous instalments, I could surely forgive aliens.?Not sure, really. I'll think on it.
I cannot find it within myself to say anything negative about this film. The Indiana Jones series almost defines my whole childhood and who would want to muddy all those good memories??? I am thankful everyday that I found my very own Indiana (complete with well-travelled hat) to complete my fantasies of having my very own Harrison Ford. Dreams can come true!!!
Ray Winstone popped up as a goodie/baddie/goodie. Fine. Cate Blancett (she who is wonderful in all things) unfortunately could have been anyone but if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't care because no matter how many prizes and Oscar's I'd won, I could always say I'd been in an Indiana Jones film! Karen Allen made a welcome return although she wasn't given enough lines poor lady whilst it was lovely to see Shia LaBeouf as the... With his character in mind, spin-off anyone???
(Viewed 31/05/08)
All in all, the fourth best Indie film in the series. Fun when it needed to be, quite scary in parts and lovely and sentimental at the end. Not bad after all these years.
Goodies, baddies, jumping about, the Fedora, bull-whip, Marion, sneaky tributes to Marcus Brody, jungles, natives with weapons, action, adventure, double crossing and aliens (what the...) all wrapped up with lots of archaeological goodness. What joy! Seriously though, aliens? Mind you, my viewing partner did point out that if I could accept the otherworldliness of the Ark or the mind numbingly OTT cup of Christ situation in the previous instalments, I could surely forgive aliens.?Not sure, really. I'll think on it.
I cannot find it within myself to say anything negative about this film. The Indiana Jones series almost defines my whole childhood and who would want to muddy all those good memories??? I am thankful everyday that I found my very own Indiana (complete with well-travelled hat) to complete my fantasies of having my very own Harrison Ford. Dreams can come true!!!
Ray Winstone popped up as a goodie/baddie/goodie. Fine. Cate Blancett (she who is wonderful in all things) unfortunately could have been anyone but if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't care because no matter how many prizes and Oscar's I'd won, I could always say I'd been in an Indiana Jones film! Karen Allen made a welcome return although she wasn't given enough lines poor lady whilst it was lovely to see Shia LaBeouf as the... With his character in mind, spin-off anyone???
(Viewed 31/05/08)
All in all, the fourth best Indie film in the series. Fun when it needed to be, quite scary in parts and lovely and sentimental at the end. Not bad after all these years.
In Bruges ~~~~
'In Bruges'... a funny little film, quite literally. It's a difficult one to slip neatly into any particular genre but I'll have a go. Bitter-sweet film noir buddy movie with a gangster-comedy twist.
The reason I like this film so much is because it kept me guessing both as to how it would end and how many below the belt, risqué bad jokes it could pack in. Picking on a midget??? Is that right??? Well yes, in this case... kind of... not sure... damn, I got sucked in!
Without giving it all away, here's the plot - two dodgy hit-men types are sent to Bruges. Bruges, I hear you cry, where the heck is that??? Well, Belgium. And gorgeous it is too. The two likely fellows haul up in a hotel waiting for a call from 'the boss' anticipating a 'hit'... little do they know...
The characters, played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, spend a good deal of their time bickering and arguing amongst themselves for the first half of the flick. Farrell hates 'history' and isn't interested in the architecture whilst Gleeson is making the best of a bad situation and tries to see the sights before the hit comes in. Farrell takes a while to settle down - he does the best impression of a twitchy man I've ever seen on screen just about keeping the comedy element pegged down enough to prevent it from falling into bizarre slap-stick territory. Gleeson is the steady, quiet man... and one has a feeling the quiet man has much to show.
All is well for the most part. They bumble around and meet a variety of strange locals including the aforementioned small person involved in a film shoot in the city. There's quite a lot of violence tucked away here and an awfully lot of darkness in the characters which is very evident. It makes one feel that this film isn't going to close on a high note and, whatdoyaknow, it doesn't.
By the middle of the film, we're introduced to a rather joyfully hammy Big Boss character played wickedly by Ralph Fiennes. He does a stirling job of portraying a rather old school 1940's/50's mafiosa boss, albeit from some part of south London. Once he arrives in Bruges, you know the pace is going to change... and it does. It all begins to verge on the side of slap-stick once the various villains start running around the city totting guns but all is forgiven for the extremely sentimental climax and heart rending character exploration and reveal at the end.
Quite an unusual film this. It's stuck in my mind months after viewing and I can't wait to see it again. Farrell is in his element in a non-Hollywood blockbuster and presents an all round more satisfying performance in the film. I hope he gets the hint. Gleeson is extremely subtle and brings so much more to the gentle giant character than most probably could. Fiennes is hammier than I thought he could be so thumbs up to him too.
My viewing partner and I were both very impressed with the wonderful actresses playing the local women who get embroiled in the mayhem - Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour in the last Harry Potter) and Thekla Reuten. Well done ladies.
It's not often a 'smaller film' is so impressive all round. Even if I had hated the film, I'd still want to visit Bruges so it's a winner either way you look.
(Date viewed - 21/05/08)
The reason I like this film so much is because it kept me guessing both as to how it would end and how many below the belt, risqué bad jokes it could pack in. Picking on a midget??? Is that right??? Well yes, in this case... kind of... not sure... damn, I got sucked in!
Without giving it all away, here's the plot - two dodgy hit-men types are sent to Bruges. Bruges, I hear you cry, where the heck is that??? Well, Belgium. And gorgeous it is too. The two likely fellows haul up in a hotel waiting for a call from 'the boss' anticipating a 'hit'... little do they know...
The characters, played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, spend a good deal of their time bickering and arguing amongst themselves for the first half of the flick. Farrell hates 'history' and isn't interested in the architecture whilst Gleeson is making the best of a bad situation and tries to see the sights before the hit comes in. Farrell takes a while to settle down - he does the best impression of a twitchy man I've ever seen on screen just about keeping the comedy element pegged down enough to prevent it from falling into bizarre slap-stick territory. Gleeson is the steady, quiet man... and one has a feeling the quiet man has much to show.
All is well for the most part. They bumble around and meet a variety of strange locals including the aforementioned small person involved in a film shoot in the city. There's quite a lot of violence tucked away here and an awfully lot of darkness in the characters which is very evident. It makes one feel that this film isn't going to close on a high note and, whatdoyaknow, it doesn't.
By the middle of the film, we're introduced to a rather joyfully hammy Big Boss character played wickedly by Ralph Fiennes. He does a stirling job of portraying a rather old school 1940's/50's mafiosa boss, albeit from some part of south London. Once he arrives in Bruges, you know the pace is going to change... and it does. It all begins to verge on the side of slap-stick once the various villains start running around the city totting guns but all is forgiven for the extremely sentimental climax and heart rending character exploration and reveal at the end.
Quite an unusual film this. It's stuck in my mind months after viewing and I can't wait to see it again. Farrell is in his element in a non-Hollywood blockbuster and presents an all round more satisfying performance in the film. I hope he gets the hint. Gleeson is extremely subtle and brings so much more to the gentle giant character than most probably could. Fiennes is hammier than I thought he could be so thumbs up to him too.
My viewing partner and I were both very impressed with the wonderful actresses playing the local women who get embroiled in the mayhem - Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour in the last Harry Potter) and Thekla Reuten. Well done ladies.
It's not often a 'smaller film' is so impressive all round. Even if I had hated the film, I'd still want to visit Bruges so it's a winner either way you look.
(Date viewed - 21/05/08)
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