Catch-up

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve not had time to blog much recently, which means that there a few different movies that have been viewed and yet to be reviewed. What follows is a brief summary:

Vantage Point – 3/5
Described as 24 meets Rashomon – an assassination attempt on the president viewed from multiple perspectives – each adding something new to the mix. On the whole it works as good entertainment – the multiple perspectives change enough and add enough new information to avoid a feeling of repetition. There’s a quality cast who guarantee good value – Dennis Quaid, Forrest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt and Lost’s Matthew Fox. Most of the action set pieces and car chases work well and then they rather mess up the ending to leave it feeling too messy and contrived. Good, but should have been better.

Conversations with my Gardener – 3.5/5
OK, this one’s from the French film festival and isn’t on general release yet, but is well worth checking out when it comes around. It tells the story of an artist (Daniel Auteuil) who moves back to his home town and develops a friendship with his gardener (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) who is also a childhood friend. The film successfully treads the line – managing to both be genuinely funny and also giving a touching portrait of the friendship between two men. We’ve seen Auteuil do this kind of role often before, but it is Darroussin who gives the film real heart and steals he credits.

Margot at the Wedding – 2.5/5
Noah Baumbach’s follow-up to The Squid and the Whale treads the same ground – a darkly comic look at dysfunctional families. Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her teenage son go to visit her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) as she prepares to get married to an underachieving Jack Black. It maintains the humour of its predecessor, but is a messier and much less likeable affair, mainly due to the fact that none of the characters are particularly likeable.

The Spiderwick Chronicles – 3.5/5
Following a family break-up, a mum (the excellent Mary-Louise Parker) and her teenage daughter and twin sons (both played by Freddie Highmore) move into a big old house in the middle of nowhere. Soon a book is discovered that opens their eyes to the magical world of creatures around them and the danger that brings. Yes, its another children’s fantasy, but a more or less successful one – visually and emotionally (with the underplayed break-up situation) it comes close in feel to Bridge to Terabithia, which is actually a recommendation. The cast, which also includes David Strathairn, are all on good form and there are some real PG-level scares. Recommended for viewers of all ages.

10,000 BC – 2.5/5
It would so easy to knock the latest blockbuster from Roland Emmerich (Independance Day, The Day After Tomorrow) – you could start with the obviously multi-ethnic origins of the stone age tribe (presumably working on the logic that as long as they all look foreign nobody will notice), there’s the not entirely successful mixing of real actors and CGI mammoths, the script which might have been written in the stone ages, the ridiculous plot elements (including one pinched from Androcles and the lion). At the end of the day, though, if you go to watch this, you ain’t going to be expecting high art and as mindless entertainment and spectacle following in the footsteps of Apocalypto, it works OK. It also takes itself so seriously it becomes unintentionally hilarious in places, but it does, mainly, look great.

The Other Boleyn Girl – 2/5
Or Elizabeth:the Early Years. This film has many faults, but the main cast isn’t one of them – Eric Bana, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman all do a creditable job and manage better than average English accents. The plot is historical soap opera, but that’s to be expected. The script is poor – with heavy handed moments of Tudor history for dummies inserted into dialogue. But the main fault is with the direction and cinematography – I’m not quite sure what was being attempted, but it doesn’t work – the odd camera angles, jerky shooting and odd cuts are more suggestive of a psychological thriller or slasher flick and are far more distracting than effective. Approach with caution.

The Boss of it All – 2/5
Lars Von Trier (Dogville, Breaking the Waves) is not a director renowned for making people laugh . Here he attempts a comedy, or so he tells us at the start. The set-up has good comic potential –company owner, Ravn, is too afraid of offending his employees so he invents a fictional boss to take responsibility for all the unpopular decisions. Due to circumstances he then has to hire out of work actor Kristoffer to play said boss – the problem being that the “boss” has told all the employees different things. The result isn’t without the odd wry smile, but leaves you with the feeling it should be much funnier. This seems to mainly be down to Von Trier seemingly being more interested in picking apart the genre than actually making people laugh – his closing words will leave you with the impression that he is the only one who is truly amused, and that at the expense of the audience.