Heart-wrenching, stomach turning and potentially star-making (again that is, with Mr Mickey Rourke!)
Wonderfully dark, docu-movie about a pro-wrestler ultimately fighting time.
On so many levels, this Aronofsky film is not to be missed.
Full review coming soon.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Revolutionary Road ~~~~
A quite amazing look at the disintegration of relationships and the self. Winslet and Di Caprio work amazingly well together and are individually on fire! Uncomfortable at times, the film highlights the dangers of letting go of life and the one you love. I exited the cinema feeling that finally someone else understood the notion that it's better to be on the outside looking in rather than the other way around. There is hope but you have work at it; life, love, passion and happiness really require some work to get right.
More to come...
More to come...
Sunday, 1 February 2009
The Reader ~~~
Kate Winslet done good. Perhaps not Oscar worthy but she probably deserves one anyway.
This film just missed the mark for me but having seen it with a buddy of mine, it certainly gave us plenty to talk about afterwards.
Set in Germany in the 1950's, a teenage boy meets and falls in love with a local bus conductor who takes him in and begins an affair. Together they read, bathe, shag and read some more. It's all very nice and exciting but you know that ultimately it's doomed. That said, once the affair is over one does wonder how the two characters could possibly meet again. But ah ha, that's the plot twist!
Grown up to become a law student, said boy finally finds out what happened to his summer love and it's none too pretty nor romantic. We follow the story of what happens to Winslet's character and finally meet the man the boy grows up to be namely, Ralph Fiennes. We follow their relationship to its natural conclusion and I have to admit, it did make me cry. Like unrequited love, seeing two people parted then joined then parted again always makes me blub.
It really was a good story and the two leads were excellent, as was Fiennes later on, but something just didn't gel with me as a member of the audience. It seems to have tried to pick up on the minutiae of a love affair but follows that up with a blotting out of what's gone before once it moves on to its second half. Disjointed, absolutely and because of this, far less satisfactory as a film.
It would be interesting to view this film again having found out the plot twist to see whether it really does deliver what I think, first time, it missed.
Regardless of my griping, I would recommend anyone to see this film even just to give you the opportunity to see what your brain and heart tells you about this love affair. I also have to take my hat off to Kate for stripping down (again) and for continuing to be the 'brave' and watchable actress she is. Keep it up Kate!
(Viewed on 31/01/09)
This film just missed the mark for me but having seen it with a buddy of mine, it certainly gave us plenty to talk about afterwards.
Set in Germany in the 1950's, a teenage boy meets and falls in love with a local bus conductor who takes him in and begins an affair. Together they read, bathe, shag and read some more. It's all very nice and exciting but you know that ultimately it's doomed. That said, once the affair is over one does wonder how the two characters could possibly meet again. But ah ha, that's the plot twist!
Grown up to become a law student, said boy finally finds out what happened to his summer love and it's none too pretty nor romantic. We follow the story of what happens to Winslet's character and finally meet the man the boy grows up to be namely, Ralph Fiennes. We follow their relationship to its natural conclusion and I have to admit, it did make me cry. Like unrequited love, seeing two people parted then joined then parted again always makes me blub.
It really was a good story and the two leads were excellent, as was Fiennes later on, but something just didn't gel with me as a member of the audience. It seems to have tried to pick up on the minutiae of a love affair but follows that up with a blotting out of what's gone before once it moves on to its second half. Disjointed, absolutely and because of this, far less satisfactory as a film.
It would be interesting to view this film again having found out the plot twist to see whether it really does deliver what I think, first time, it missed.
Regardless of my griping, I would recommend anyone to see this film even just to give you the opportunity to see what your brain and heart tells you about this love affair. I also have to take my hat off to Kate for stripping down (again) and for continuing to be the 'brave' and watchable actress she is. Keep it up Kate!
(Viewed on 31/01/09)
Defiance ~~~~
Satisfying, 'non-Hollywoody' WWII show of defiance.
Persecuted and mercilessly hunted by both Nazis' and local anti-Semites, the inhabitants of Belarussia's villages risk everything to strike out against their murderous oppressors and take refuge in the forests of their country.
Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell head up a solid and interesting cast of Jewish locals who not only try to save themselves, but make the choice to save others.
The spirit of camaraderie gets the better of the band of brothers whose family are ruthlessly murdered during the war. Each brother in turn has to accept what has happened on their own terms and, indeed, have to battle their own demons and, in the case of the two older brothers, each other.
Subtlety handled and brilliantly filmed and directed, what could have been turned into a melodramatic, OTT war flick actually turned out to be an evenly-keeled 'human' action drama.
Without giving any of the story away, this film will whisk you physically and emotionally into the forests of Eastern Europe where thousands of brave men and women risked their families and lives to ensure they outlive the brutal and murderous intentions of the Nazis' and their allies. A little known piece of unbelievable history is finally given the airing it deserves. It never ceases to amaze me how brave, selfless and courageous people can be in the face of unprecedented brutality. A really heart-warming and historically interesting film and one which I hope can be watched and enjoyed, particularly by a younger generation, whilst learning something new about both the determination and brutality of those alive during the war.
Persecuted and mercilessly hunted by both Nazis' and local anti-Semites, the inhabitants of Belarussia's villages risk everything to strike out against their murderous oppressors and take refuge in the forests of their country.
Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell head up a solid and interesting cast of Jewish locals who not only try to save themselves, but make the choice to save others.
The spirit of camaraderie gets the better of the band of brothers whose family are ruthlessly murdered during the war. Each brother in turn has to accept what has happened on their own terms and, indeed, have to battle their own demons and, in the case of the two older brothers, each other.
Subtlety handled and brilliantly filmed and directed, what could have been turned into a melodramatic, OTT war flick actually turned out to be an evenly-keeled 'human' action drama.
Without giving any of the story away, this film will whisk you physically and emotionally into the forests of Eastern Europe where thousands of brave men and women risked their families and lives to ensure they outlive the brutal and murderous intentions of the Nazis' and their allies. A little known piece of unbelievable history is finally given the airing it deserves. It never ceases to amaze me how brave, selfless and courageous people can be in the face of unprecedented brutality. A really heart-warming and historically interesting film and one which I hope can be watched and enjoyed, particularly by a younger generation, whilst learning something new about both the determination and brutality of those alive during the war.
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