More New Releases

OK - still playing catch up, so some equally brief reviews:

Death Proof - 2.5/5

OK - I'm not a big Tarantino fan to start with and this is clearly not his best work. Some of the dialogue is entertaining enough, but not up to the usual standards. I'm not totally sure I buy into the idea of deliberately making a big budget movie look cheap and nasty. Kurt Russell makes an entertainingly chilling bad guy as Stuntman Mike. The first crash is really unnecessarily gruesome and unpleasant, but things improve in the second half when the girls turn the tables on the bad guy and the film moves into similar territory to Spielberg's Duel. The only problem is its then bringing to mind films like Duel which do it much better. Oh, and kiwi stuntwoman Zoe Bell gives an extremely wooden performance as herself. Not recommended unless you're a big Tarantino fan.

Disturbia - 3/5

A teen remake of Hitchcock classic Rear Window with James Stewart's broken leg replaced by Shia LaBeouf's house arrest electronic tag to keep the hero housebound whilst suspecting his neighbour's a murderer. This is not the worst idea put forward ever and Shia Labeouf, after Transformers, again proves a very watchable leading man whilst David Morse can now do the chilling psychopath thing in his sleep. The move to suburbia loses the closed in claustrophobic feel of Hitchcock's masterpiece and director DJ Caruso handles it competently but along very much seen-it-all-before genre lines - the hero closes the fridge door to find the killer standing there in his kitchen, etc... Its a watchable thriller, but the idea and the original deserve better handling.

Evening - 2.5/5

This is very much a case of feel the quality of the actresses - Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson (Redgrave's real-life daughter playing her on-screen daughter), Mamie Gummer (Streep's daughter playing her younger self) and Eileen Atkins. With such a talented cast the results could never be truly dreadful, but where the film aims for The Hours, it falls some way short of The Notebook. Where it aims for stirring passion it manages gentle sentiment. And surprisingly all these talented actresses are upstaged by Hugh Dancy as the unrequited lover who drink too much and enlivens proceedings whenever he's on screen.

The Latest Releases

Well, I’ve not had the chance to blog for a couple of weeks, but having some time off work and not much else happening, I’ve been watching quite a few movies – the benefits of a cinema pass! So here, briefly, are my views on the following:

Superbad – 4/5
Written by Seth “Knocked-Up” Rogen and Evan Goldberg, based loosely on their own teenage lives. The plot, very similarly to American Pie, follows school friends (imaginatively called Seth and Evan) trying to get laid before going their separate ways to different colleges. Like many American “sex” comedies, there’s thankfully not too much in the way of actual sex. But there is a lot of talk and a lot of very puerile stuff – so not one for the easily offended. But like American Pie, under the gross out stuff, it actually sneaks in some genuine emotion – here in the form of the friendship between the two lead characters facing separation. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera in the leads make for likeable stars with enough charm to keep you watching whilst their less than movie-star looks make them all the more believable. And this is the movie’s strength – by rooting both characters and action in recognisable (and embarrassing) teenage experience before throwing in the more outlandish elements (like stoner cops), the end product is not only watchable but often very funny. Yes its gross and juvenile and there is the odd mis-fire, but its also often hilarious. Whilst newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse as ultra-nerdish Fogel (aka McLovin) is a delight to watch – he’s so uncool, he’s cool.

3:10 to Yuma – 3/5
An amoral bad-guy in a Western, gamely battling against his own salvation is the kind of part Russell Crowe was born to play. That he is matched against moodily intense Christian Bale as a rancher trying to pay off debts and prove himself to his son is a great move and what is otherwise pretty much a by the numbers Western remake is lifted by the interplay between two of Hollywood’s best going head to head. (Crowe is clearly enjoying himself in the chance to be the bad guy). What a shame then that the whole is ruined by a laugh-out-loud ridiculous ending that totally undoes all the great character work that had gone in before. Still an entertaining watch, but could have been better.

Shoot ‘Em Up – 3.5/5
Or a 100 ways not to treat a new born baby. Again – not for the easily offended, this tribute to John Woo builds on that director’s Hard Boiled (which finished with a shoot out in a maternity ward) – here we get shoot outs during a delivery, during sex, during a sky dive, just about all the time really. It’s best to give up trying to follow the ridiculous plot (which with all too knowing irony surrounds a conspiracy to do with gun control legislation). Instead enjoy some great action set-pieces and two highly entertaining performances from Clive Owen (doing his twinkle-eyed action-man I-could-have-been-Bond act) and nice man Paul Giamatti (embracing the chance to be the bad guy with relish and a performance that not only chews the scenery but also anything else that stays still long). It’s all utter nonsense, the dialogue is knowingly dreadful – but the whole is so ridiculous its almost inspired – its certainly highly entertaining.

Inferior Reproductions

No Reservations - 2.5/5

American audiences, so it is said, won't watch subtitles (unless of course it comes with Crouching Tiger style action). So Hollywood has the habit of remaking great foreign films into Americanised, sanitised and, quite frankly, inferior multiplex fodder. There's nothing new about this - famously The Magnificent Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai, but at least there some imagination went into its translation. More recently we have had Criminal - a practically shot for shot remake of Argentine Nine Queens, The Departed - a decent film, but still inferior to Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, Wicker Park - a faithful, if bland remake of L'Arpartement until they completely reverse the ending and come up with boring Hollywood pap, Vanilla Sky - a Tom Cruise vanity project that loses everything that made Open YUour Eyes so good and now No Reservations, a remake of German film Mostly Martha.

It keeps exactly the same plot - uptight and emotionally closed off chef with anger management issues (she's so closed off all she can tell her therapist are recipes). Her life is thrown into turmoil when her sister dies in a car crash and she unwillingly inherits custody of her niece. Simultaneously she has to cope with the arrival in her kitchen of a wildly, exuberant opera-loving chef. The American version keeps the same plot, but plays it more as a romantic comedy than the original emotional drama with strong touches. This means they also axe some of the story between the heroine (Kate here, Martha in the original) and her niece where she looks for more suitable guardians for her before realising that she is the most suited. This is a shame as it leaves out the most crucial parts of character development and the most affecting parts of the story. In fact in changing tone and emphasis it manages to lose not only the drama, but also most of the comedy and romance too - what we are left with is a curiously bland affair.

The main problem, apart from the cuts, is Catherine Zeta-Jones in the lead role. Whilst doubtless a talented actress, she never really manages to convey the emotional cut-off-ness required and is completely unconvincing in the later spontaneous moments, so we are left with only the vaguest sense of the character development which is kind of key to the whole thing.

Aaron Eckhart is one of those just below outright star actors who manage to make any film better just by being in them and he is watchable as ever here as the professional rival/romantic interest, but is rather miscast. In the original the character was an Italian, here they maintain hislove for all things Italian whilst Eckhart is most decidedly not Italian, requiring the insertion of a stunningly clumsy explanation.

The supporting cast do their best - Patricia Clarkson is wasted as the restaurant owner, whilst Bob Balaban adds a certain charm to the therapist. The main redeeming feature here is Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin as the bereaved child, proving her breakthrough hit was no one-off and acting her bigger name co-stars off the screen with a touchingly true portrayal. She is the one thing that makes this worth watching.

This takes all the best ingredients, but overcooks them into a dish which, like Zeta-Jones' performance is curiously bland and unaffecting. Save yourself the ticket price and rent the original instead.

The Year’s First Oscar Contender

Atonement – 5/5

The term “unfilmable novel” is used rather too freely these days by certain journalists. It has been applied to Ian McEwan’s Booker-prize-winning novel Atonement. Despite its preoccupation with words and their impact, this is palpably not an unfilmable book as director Joe Wright proves in stunning fashion. His recent version of Pride and Prejudice was a solid if not spectacular film. Here he really shows that he is a talent to be reckoned with. He conjures up a great film which is both suggestive of the classics of British cinema whilst remaining decidedly modern. It is visually stunning, full of atmosphere and brilliantly acted.

One stunning scene at Dunkirk is just jaw-dropping. Reminiscent of Russian classic Come and See (which brilliantly conveys the horror and surrealism of war), in a 5 minute tracking shot, the camera circle around scenes of devastation and bizarre elements, continually returning to James McAvoy’s face as he makes his way along the beach.

For those who haven’t read the book, the plot (which the film follows closely) comes in three distinct parts. Firstly, at a country house in the middle of heatwave in 1935, spiky Cecilia (Keira Knightly) gradually comes to realise her true feelings for housekeeper’s son turned trainee doctor Robbie (McAvoy). Meanwhile Cecilia’s younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan) stumbles upon the rape of their cousin and wrongly imagines Robbie to be the culprit. Jumping forward to 1940, Robbie is making his way towards Dunkirk, Cecilia is working as a nurse, as is Briony (now played by Ramola Garai) who realising her mistake, tries to make amends and atone for her mistake.

The final coda, in the present day, with Briony now played by Vanessa Redgrave, could well leave some viewers feeling cheated, but it will doubtless provoke and is necessary for the themes of the story – what purpose do happy endings serve and is atonement possible when circumstances dictate otherwise. It will also raise questions about what, if anything, Briony has actually learnt.

Briony is convincingly played as the same person by all three actresses (with an uncanny physical resemblance). Redgrave and Garai are always dependable but it is the performance of child-actress Ronan that is a revelation. Thematically appropriately, she is often shot gazing through windows. The opening section is shot in lush colours and effectively conjures an atmosphere of heat and tension. Even here there are hints of the shadow of war. Come the war, the appearance becomes more muted as does the mood, but still visually impressive.

The score is a perfect fit in creating the atmosphere, taking sounds from the action, like a typewriter key, and building out of it, before merging back into the action with a solitary key being tapped on a piano.

As to the stars, twenty-something brit-stars McAvoy and Knightly come into this with rather differing reputations in the press. McAvoy is quite the darling who can do no wrong and Wright draws out of him what is perhaps his most accomplished performance to date. Knightly, despite a string of decent performances in good films and an Oscar nomination, seems to attract more than her fair share of flack. Her performance here, convincingly conveying the fragility under Cecilia’s spiky exterior, should put all that too rest and confirm that she is now a grown-up actress of some talent.

Whether you have read the novel or not, this is a wonderful adaptation that you should see.

Meeting the Parents Before Sunrise

2 Days in Paris – 3.5/5

For actress Julie Delpy to return to ground so close to her biggest hit Before Sunrise for her debut as director (she also wrote the script) is either a bold move or a lazy one. Again we have two people – one American, one French – walking round Paris whilst discussing life, politics and, mostly, relationships. However, it’s the difference which is crucial – this is a couple who are two years into their relationship and hitting an “is it worth it” crisis point.

The film is a bit of a slow starter, but when it gets going it is worth the wait. Some of the humour is much coarser than anything in Before Sunset – in fact the stay at her parents adds elements of Meet the Parents mistrust and misunderstanding. Some elements of the culture clash comedy are slightly on the predictable side, dealing in rather too broad stereotypes, but Delpy also has the courage to go places many American comedies wouldn’t. In many ways this is the antithesis of many a romantic comedy – having no concern with how the leading get together through the obstacles, but more with whether they will stay together through the obstacles inside of them.

Like Before Sunrise, there is philosophising and political commentary, but here it can almost be seen as a smokescreen to avoid dealing with the reality of the relationship. Delpy also has the courage to make her leading characters not all that likeable at times – her own heroine being a rather flirty lady with anger management issues, whilst Adam Goldberg’s whiny hypochondriac has the potential to alienate. But strong performances, especially from Goldberg (an actor who has had bit parts in so many movies, but is probably best known as Chandler’s stalker flatmate from Friends), make sure they are never less watchable.

Things are brought to a surprisingly poignant conclusion via a bizarrely surreal (but hilarious) subplot involving Goodbye Lenin’s Daniel Bruhl – his conversation with Goldberg in a fast food restaurant is one of the film’s highpoints.

It’s a good, unusual and somewhat quirky first effort from Delpy, which ends up being rather more meaningful than the average rom-com.

Pegg Goes Solo

Run, Fatboy, Run - 3/5

After the comic brilliance of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg leaves his usual partners Edgar Wright and Nick Frost to re-team with friends David Schwimmer, with whom he starred in the hit and miss The Big Nothing last year. This time Schwimmer is on directorial duties and does a solid if not spectacular job with this decidedly brit-com effort.

Pegg plays Dennis who leaves a pregnant Thandie Newton at the altar on their wedding day. Five years later, he decides to try and win her back - the problem being that she is now seeing the rich, handsome, marathon-running Hank Azaria. The solution to run a a marathon and win her back. The plot is utterly predictable as Azaria proves himself more of a bastard as the movie progresses - there's little doubt how this will end up. Unfortunately, some of the humour is just as predictable - the shock of old people and kids swearing ceased to be funny or original a while ago.

But it does have a few inspired moments - a nice take on the Rocky-style training montage and some really funny lines, largely delivered by Dylan Moran who enlivens proceeding considerably whenever he's on screen (although there are a few too many shots of his bare backside). He forms a great double act with Pegg, who is his usual watchable self. The movie is however all but stolen by Harish Patel's performance as Dennis' landlord and coach, who whilst bordering on stereotype, has enough about him to totally win over the audience. Also watch out for an entertaining cameo from Little BRitain's David Walliams.

There's funny here to raise a few laughs and keep you smiling, although unfortunately it rather limps across the finish line with a predictable final act.

Billy Elliot Grows Up

Hallam Foe - 3/5

Following a string of supprting turns in the likes of King Kong and Flags of Our Fathers, Hallam Foe provides Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell with his first real chance to star in a lead role since his breakthrough hit. He plays the title character in this tale of a rather disturbed young man (hobbies including peeping tom-ing and picking locks) who becomes convinced that his mother didn't really commit suicide, but was murdered by his step-mother (Claire Forlani). Running away to Edinburgh, he takes a job at a hotel in order to be close to the HR manager (Sophie Myles) who bears an uncanny resemblance to mum. The Freudian element is not so much a subtext as blatantly in the foreground, which does lead to a few moments which are maybe unnnecessarily twisted and disturbed.

On the whole this is very watchable and entertaining, if somewhat offbeat. Director David Mackenzie does a good job of capturing both the beautiful countryside and the Edinburgh cityscape, shot mainly from the rooftops where Hallam surveys the world. Bell is ably supported by Ciaran Hinds in a very restrained performance and Forlani, who adds enough calculating iciness to the step-mother to keep some question about what really happened. Jamie Syves is suitably vicious as the love-rival, whilst Ewan Bremner is wasted in just a few lines as a colleague.

However, at the end of the day, it all depends on Bell and he gives Hallam enough charm and humour to keep us watching even as it becomes clear just how disturbed he is. Its a performance which confirms the leading man talent we all knew he had.

Strangely the weak link is Myles - not in terms of performance, but in terms of characterisation. She falls between a distant, unknowable object of affection and an understandable character and some of her actions seems to decidedly strange without us ever really understanding what motivates her - when learning that Hallam's interest in her comes from her resemblance to her mum, rather than running screaming, she offers to wear her dress.

Like Hallam, overall the movie has enough charm and humour to keep you watching through the icky bits. Maybe not to everybody's taste though.

Some scattered and brief thoughts political

It's been a while since I blogged on anything political, so what follows are some brief thoughts on a few different recent topics.

Firstly, A National Conversation - I haven't really had a chance to read too much detail, but I did find that the pre-emptive rejection by the other three parties before the details were published was maybe a bit of a mistake. I also find it curious that the SNP favour further devolution as a step towards independance, whilst the other three favour further devolution in order to strengthen the union. It surely can't do both. Of course, this is Mr Salmond's bait to draw the others into the debate - so far no biters. Personally, I think in the short term it would probably satisfy the hunger for greater independance, but in the long term would lead to a greater nationalist feeling.

In the immediate future, there seemd little prospect of a referendum in Scotland being agreed by Holyrood, let alone getting the necessary legislation through Westminster.

Of course, Mr Salmond is a smart enough operator to realise that nationalist feeling is also swayed by feelings within Scotland towards the Westminster government and he exploited the anti-Blair sentiment well at the elections. So, the middle of the Brown-bounce with recent polls showing the majority of Scots feel Brown is a better leader than Salmond is not the right time to be pushing things further.

Which takes us south of the border and you can tell the Conservatives are in trouble when their leader starts to talk about taking a harder line on immigration - one of the customary knee-jerk reactions of ailing tory leaders (see Hague, Duncan-Smith, Howard, etc...). It hasn't worked in the past and won't now.

As to other Tory proposals to make struggling children resit the last year of primary school. OK, this wouldn't apply in Scotland anyway, but somebody should point out that the main effect of this, other than the stigma, would be that far more of these children would be able to leave school before taking GCSEs or equivalent. As it is safe to assume that, having been kept back a year, most would not have a positive experience of education, we can also assume that most would leave, which would be a huge own-goal.

The Good , The Bad and the Uglies

After all those spies, this week, comedies of differing flavours. Starting with the bad:

Rush Hour 3 - 1.5/5

The original Rush Hour was an OK movie - an entertaining enough buddy-cop-action-comedy, but certainly not demanding a sequel, lot alone a threequel trundling along 10 years after the original in a desperate bid to re-launch Chris Tucker's career.

This is by far and away THE worst of the summer threequels (and that's saying something) - its tired, lazy, unoriginal and deeply unfunny. It's funniest moments are all borrowed from much better sources, such as the riff on Abbott and Costello's classic Who's on First sequence.

Plus there is far too much of Tucker, surely amongst the most irritating and unpleasant screen performers, and not enough of Chan. The film does brighten up when Chan swings into action, but it still feels like you've seen it all before including a final fight on a famous world monument (see Shanghai Knights among others).

Added to this, you have the undignified sight of cinematic luminaries Philip Baker Hall, Roman Polanski and Max Von Sydow (as the least surprising of surprise villains) lazily stumbling their way towards a paycheck whilst making no effort to improve things.

Not worth the ticket price, unlike the good:

Knocked Up - 4/5

The latest from writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40 year old virgin) follows career minded Alison (Roswell's Katherine Heigl) and stoner Ben (Seth Rogan, one of Steve Carrell's co-workers from The 40 year old virgin), who after a drunken one night stand find themselves expecting a child. This might not be the most promising premise for a comedy, but it works superbly well.

The lead couple are given a certain amount of credibility - Alison is toned down several notches from stereotype career-bitch, whilst Ben is given enough barely concealed insecurities to make him believable and likeable, if, at times, he almost seems like a slightly stoned Woody Allen. Around about them is some great support from the brilliant Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd as Alison's sister and brother-in-law to her hilarious bosses. There is maybe slightly too much of Ben's stoner friends, who prove the films weak link.

This is much funnier than The 40 year old virgin, with a mix of brutally honest and biological comedy which goes some way beyond risque and some great set pieces, like a trip to Vegas under the influence of mushrooms - hotel chairs have never been so funny. But before you get too disapprroving, like The 40 year old virgin, under the gross-out comedy this sneaks in some real heart and a surprisingly moral take on learning to accept responsibility and commitment.

Funniest film in a long time.

Which brings us to the oddballs:

Eagle vs Shark - 3/5

A romantic comedy of sorts, but a million miles from the Hollywood beautiful people. This New Zealand film follows the story of Jarrod and Lilly - two rather nerd-ish losers whose actions and reactions, despite being in their 30s, have a decidedly teenage feel to them. The obvious comparisons are with Napoleon Dynamite. The thing is that if you are going to build a movie around characters who rather make you cringe, you need to add enough likeability to keep the audience engaged and writer/director Taika Cohen only just manages to pull it off.

Lily (Loren Horsley) has a certain cute charm, but Jarrod (Jermaine Clement) is rather too self-obsessed and selfish, which makes Lily's obsession with him all the more baffling. His character and self-realisation comes rather too late in proceedings.

However along the way there are some nice touches and good array of other amusing oddballs. There are also some surprisingly dark and some surprisingly tender moments, along with some nice subversions of cinematic cliches - like the race to stop the love interest leaving on the bus and, in the film's greatest sequence, the showdown with childhood enemy.

It might be a bit of an acquire taste, but if you like the slightly offbeat, there's enough here to make it worth checking out.