Ok, I have to admit that this is a well made film, that the story is pretty unconventional and that Ms Jolie is pretty splendid. Clint Eastwood directed, you couldn't go very wrong with a film so imbued with class and professionalism. Unfortunately, it's just a bit too much for me. A little too emotional and far too perfect.
Jolie plays a mother who dotes on her son. A 'regular' mum working hard to support herself and her child in a world unsympathetic to lone women trying to make their way through life. We see how hard she works and how compromise to continue working leads to the terrible disappearance of her boy. Jolie's acting lends an immediate sense of desperation to the movie whilst the police and media do their best, at first, to support her. As the flip-side of the story unfolds, we also see the police's desperation to find her son. When they can't find an immediate solution, they provide her with another boy and pressurise her to accept him as her own. When she refuses, both the police then the media ridicule and finally incarcerate her.
Jolie's most successful scenes, for me, are those whilst she is locked away, primarily because they are reminiscent of her earlier work in the brilliant film 'Girl, Interrupted' where she displayed magnificent tenderness mixed with violent desperation, as she does here. The shocking realisation that society used to treat women who spoke out, caused trouble or who were forced to prostitute themselves as mental-cases and whom they locked up indefinitely was the most important message within the film for me.
As the film progresses it is shocking to discover the number of disappeared children but worse is yet to come when we discover where they all ended up. The story does seem, on the surface, to follow the story of Jolie, the mother, and the problems she faces but ultimately it's a rather good study of society and how the media is used to re-write the truth. I really liked the seemingly honest portrayal of the women of the time, how their 'nature' is held up to be their weakness yet in turn how they hold families together. By the end of the film, although truly shocking on many levels, the fate of the children seems almost secondary to the elements of police manipulation, societal bigotry and the decent into 'modern' life.
Eastwood really is a magnificent director, cool, calm and observant. Jolie though didn't quite fit the role for me although she is a great crier and does 'hysterical' almost better than anyone in Hollywood. A little wooden though except, as mentioned, when locked up. Not sure what that says about Ms Jolie, though.
A recommended film but be prepared to blub AND to hid behind the proverbial pillow.
Viewed: 26th November 2008
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Easy Virtue ~~~
12th November 2008
Very briefly, this was a rather successful, post WW1, mixed up aristo family in a big, old country house trying to get through life, poor us, Noel Coward based rom-com with a twist flick.
Excellent cast included Colin Firth (the Dad), Kristin Scott Thomas (the Mum) and a ravishing Jessica Biel (the Easy Virtue?) The story is very simple; boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, go back to see his family in their country pile and all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately for Biel's character, the family, specifically the mother and daughters', don't take very kindly to an older, beautiful, divorced American bride setting foot in the ancestral home presumably to drink their heir-to-be, dry of his inheritance. It's bitch, bitch here and bitch, bitch there. Part-farce, part-British drama it's certainly a film with it's fingers in many pies.
I'm not sure whether it was Coward's or the film makers' intention to create a real mish-mash of a story or whether it just all gets a little bit mixed up as it goes along. It jumps from the innocent murder of mother's annoying rat-dog by Biel (too much of a set up and pretty embarrassing), to set-piece dance routines to incredibly touching scenes about the father who returned from war a broken man - I just had too many emotions fighting to get out all at once and that was pretty unsatisfactory really.
Everyone was very good in their parts, the casting was spot on. The lead actor, Ben Barnes has a marvellous singing voice whilst Biel was magnif on the dance floor. It must be said, I'd never seen Miss Biel on screen before (just in trashy magazines) but was very impressed. Gorgeous but human. Good start. Scott Thomas played the irrational, fraught but sympathetic mother losing her estate and family spot on. Mr Firth was great. His role here reminded me of the wonderful part he played in 'A Month in the Country'; war-ravaged and broken.
What I do have to complain about was the score. It might have sounded like a good idea at the time, but with such a well dressed set, why confuse the audience with a jazzy, mock-20's rendition of 'Car Wash'? It wasn't even relevant to the scene at the time.... The band making the music was great but the aged renditions of modern tunes just, excuse me, sucked. If they release it on DVD, any chance I could have the option of another soundtrack? Far too distracting to make a positive contribution to an otherwise entertaining and well realised period comedy. Overall though, I'm still glad the BBC is making flicks.
Very briefly, this was a rather successful, post WW1, mixed up aristo family in a big, old country house trying to get through life, poor us, Noel Coward based rom-com with a twist flick.
Excellent cast included Colin Firth (the Dad), Kristin Scott Thomas (the Mum) and a ravishing Jessica Biel (the Easy Virtue?) The story is very simple; boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, go back to see his family in their country pile and all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately for Biel's character, the family, specifically the mother and daughters', don't take very kindly to an older, beautiful, divorced American bride setting foot in the ancestral home presumably to drink their heir-to-be, dry of his inheritance. It's bitch, bitch here and bitch, bitch there. Part-farce, part-British drama it's certainly a film with it's fingers in many pies.
I'm not sure whether it was Coward's or the film makers' intention to create a real mish-mash of a story or whether it just all gets a little bit mixed up as it goes along. It jumps from the innocent murder of mother's annoying rat-dog by Biel (too much of a set up and pretty embarrassing), to set-piece dance routines to incredibly touching scenes about the father who returned from war a broken man - I just had too many emotions fighting to get out all at once and that was pretty unsatisfactory really.
Everyone was very good in their parts, the casting was spot on. The lead actor, Ben Barnes has a marvellous singing voice whilst Biel was magnif on the dance floor. It must be said, I'd never seen Miss Biel on screen before (just in trashy magazines) but was very impressed. Gorgeous but human. Good start. Scott Thomas played the irrational, fraught but sympathetic mother losing her estate and family spot on. Mr Firth was great. His role here reminded me of the wonderful part he played in 'A Month in the Country'; war-ravaged and broken.
What I do have to complain about was the score. It might have sounded like a good idea at the time, but with such a well dressed set, why confuse the audience with a jazzy, mock-20's rendition of 'Car Wash'? It wasn't even relevant to the scene at the time.... The band making the music was great but the aged renditions of modern tunes just, excuse me, sucked. If they release it on DVD, any chance I could have the option of another soundtrack? Far too distracting to make a positive contribution to an otherwise entertaining and well realised period comedy. Overall though, I'm still glad the BBC is making flicks.
Quantum of Solace ~~~
5th November 2008
Dear Lord. Please say it isn't so. Can it be...? 'Bourne Spawn 2'????
I don't mean it really. Or do I? It's very difficult to judge fairly any new action/thriller flick, let alone a new Bond film, in the light of the recent and pretty remarkable Bourne films'. But try I will.
I think it's easier to say what was disappointing about this film rather than what was good. Don't get me wrong, Daniel Craig is the best Bond since... (I'd rather not commit myself) I love watching him get all hot and bothered, going off on a mission to help the wonderfully played 'M'. Judy Dench is immensely watchable, as always, although here, not on screen as long as she should have been. And neither was Gemma Arterton, token Brit Bond babe. Shame.
The baddie (I can't even be bothered to go into it...) was ok. Slightly slimy and rather a lot creepy but nevertheless just a cliche bad guy. And the plot. Who cares? Just bear in mind that Bond is very pissed that his lovely Vespa (from the 'first' Bond) is dead and that he wants to kill lots of baddies and blow up as many cars as he can. What we can't decide from the off-set is whether James is on the edge or indeed just kickin' back and making the most of his no rules job?
The locations are gorgeous and the set-piece stunts are pretty amazing. There's a pretty unique, hidden in the shadows, Bond-hunts-baddies scene set in an awe inspiring opera watching theatre. I think that must have been the highlight, action-wise.
All Bond films, henceforth, have rather a lot to live up to with regards to 'Casino Royale' and aforementioned 'Bourne's. I think they need to re-focus on the script in the future. This film suffered from an appalling lack of imagination, flare or even, as often is expected, flirty, sexual tension. The main actress, Olga Kurylenko, tried her best to be a new-age feminist B-Girl but just wasn't given the script to succeed. Dench was the best Bond girl, by far. As for Craig, I hope he sticks with Bond for a while. He really injects something rather special into the films, even in this Bond outing which for me, gave no quantum of solace whatsoever. (Whatever the title means, anyway!)
Dear Lord. Please say it isn't so. Can it be...? 'Bourne Spawn 2'????
I don't mean it really. Or do I? It's very difficult to judge fairly any new action/thriller flick, let alone a new Bond film, in the light of the recent and pretty remarkable Bourne films'. But try I will.
I think it's easier to say what was disappointing about this film rather than what was good. Don't get me wrong, Daniel Craig is the best Bond since... (I'd rather not commit myself) I love watching him get all hot and bothered, going off on a mission to help the wonderfully played 'M'. Judy Dench is immensely watchable, as always, although here, not on screen as long as she should have been. And neither was Gemma Arterton, token Brit Bond babe. Shame.
The baddie (I can't even be bothered to go into it...) was ok. Slightly slimy and rather a lot creepy but nevertheless just a cliche bad guy. And the plot. Who cares? Just bear in mind that Bond is very pissed that his lovely Vespa (from the 'first' Bond) is dead and that he wants to kill lots of baddies and blow up as many cars as he can. What we can't decide from the off-set is whether James is on the edge or indeed just kickin' back and making the most of his no rules job?
The locations are gorgeous and the set-piece stunts are pretty amazing. There's a pretty unique, hidden in the shadows, Bond-hunts-baddies scene set in an awe inspiring opera watching theatre. I think that must have been the highlight, action-wise.
All Bond films, henceforth, have rather a lot to live up to with regards to 'Casino Royale' and aforementioned 'Bourne's. I think they need to re-focus on the script in the future. This film suffered from an appalling lack of imagination, flare or even, as often is expected, flirty, sexual tension. The main actress, Olga Kurylenko, tried her best to be a new-age feminist B-Girl but just wasn't given the script to succeed. Dench was the best Bond girl, by far. As for Craig, I hope he sticks with Bond for a while. He really injects something rather special into the films, even in this Bond outing which for me, gave no quantum of solace whatsoever. (Whatever the title means, anyway!)
Ghost Town ~~~
29th October 2008
A highly admirable, gentle comedy with a twist starring Brit comedy actor du jour Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. Great supporting cast too, must be noted.
So, miserable git, the dentist who's a Brit, Gervais hates life. Hates people, hates most things. He plods through life without reason or rhyme. Enter Kinnear, but with a twist. I can't bring myself to divulge the story to ruin the plot but I might add, although nicely paced (slow and observant), well scripted and intelligently revealed overall, and even though I did leave the cinema thinking 'Oh, that was a nice film', something was lacking. In retrospect it might have been I left feeling the novelty of the story-line petered out in the end and that the team just didn't know whether to embrace what they'd started with.
I had no expectations of either the plot or how Gervais might fare on the big screen. I'm used to seeing him on telly in his half hour slots and as wonderful as 'The Office' is (I advise watching his stand up also) I was unsure as to how I'd take to an hour and a bits worth of 'really big Ricky'! Actually, it wasn't that bad. He manages to lure you into his character's sad little world and actually makes you care what happens to him. Ricky in a Rom-com, well I never! But it actually works. A bizarre accident changes his outlook on life and thus we join him on his journey from miserable git to the dentist who embraces both life and love.
It's all very life affirming stuff. Very believable (unbelievably!) and very sweet. The humour is pitched just right and I think Gervais' input into the script had great impact on this Brit reviewer's reaction to the film and its humour. The supporting cast and their histories are developed and presented very subtly and to great effect. Kinnear and Leoni were great but greatly overshadowed by Gervais, two hospital staff and his fellow dentist colleague.
I'm very glad to seen this film - I certainly wasn't disappointed. Unusual plot but not too over done. If anything, more could have been made of the McGuffin supporting cast.
This would make a great Sunday afternoon film that the whole family could watch. Congrats to the whole team who made this.
A highly admirable, gentle comedy with a twist starring Brit comedy actor du jour Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. Great supporting cast too, must be noted.
So, miserable git, the dentist who's a Brit, Gervais hates life. Hates people, hates most things. He plods through life without reason or rhyme. Enter Kinnear, but with a twist. I can't bring myself to divulge the story to ruin the plot but I might add, although nicely paced (slow and observant), well scripted and intelligently revealed overall, and even though I did leave the cinema thinking 'Oh, that was a nice film', something was lacking. In retrospect it might have been I left feeling the novelty of the story-line petered out in the end and that the team just didn't know whether to embrace what they'd started with.
I had no expectations of either the plot or how Gervais might fare on the big screen. I'm used to seeing him on telly in his half hour slots and as wonderful as 'The Office' is (I advise watching his stand up also) I was unsure as to how I'd take to an hour and a bits worth of 'really big Ricky'! Actually, it wasn't that bad. He manages to lure you into his character's sad little world and actually makes you care what happens to him. Ricky in a Rom-com, well I never! But it actually works. A bizarre accident changes his outlook on life and thus we join him on his journey from miserable git to the dentist who embraces both life and love.
It's all very life affirming stuff. Very believable (unbelievably!) and very sweet. The humour is pitched just right and I think Gervais' input into the script had great impact on this Brit reviewer's reaction to the film and its humour. The supporting cast and their histories are developed and presented very subtly and to great effect. Kinnear and Leoni were great but greatly overshadowed by Gervais, two hospital staff and his fellow dentist colleague.
I'm very glad to seen this film - I certainly wasn't disappointed. Unusual plot but not too over done. If anything, more could have been made of the McGuffin supporting cast.
This would make a great Sunday afternoon film that the whole family could watch. Congrats to the whole team who made this.
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