Movie Catch-up

OK, I've been neglecting the blog for a little time whilst I've been caught up with other things, so here's a brief catch up on what I've seen in the past few weeks:

Safe. Jason Statham is probably the closest thing to a genuine action star that there is at the moment, but he has made some truly dreadful films. Safe is one of his better films, with halfway decent material to go with the action. The Stath tries to redeem himself by trying to save a girl-genius caught up  with competing Chinese and Russian mobs and dirty cops. The body count is ridiculously high, but there are some good sequences and nice twists along the way. Overall: 6.5/10

Dark Shadows is the big screen adaptation of a cult (read pretty dreadful) TV supernatural soap opera from the 60s which is really not known over here. Tim Burton's at the helm and Johnny Depp (of course) stars as the vampire dug up after 200 years to find his family's fortunes in decline and the witch who cursed him (Eva Green). It is imbued with Burton's rich visual style and a very dry dark humour. Depp fits in perfectly and Green vamps it up to great effect. As is not uncommon with TV adaptations, there's not really enough space in the film for all the characters to really shine through despite the strong cast and Tommy Lee Miller's playboy and Chloe Moretz' teen with issues probably suffer most from a lack of space, but overall this is an entertaining watch. Overall 7/10

The Dictator Sacha Baron Cohen is now too well known to get away with the Borat trick on real people, so moves into the fully scripted area with The Dictator. Cohen is a bright fellow and there are moments in the film when it really shows - the final speech to the UN drips with layers of irony and the way he talks himself out of being tortured is one of the comic highlights. Too often though he still goes for the cheap laugh and the supposed shock. A mixed bag of a film. Overall 6/10

The Raid the much hyped Indonesian action film with the Welsh director follows a rookie cop on the titular raid on a high rise apartment building controlled by the local drug lord, and that's it in terms of plot. What it is very raw and vibrant and inventive in its almost non-stop action and fight sequences. As the lead, Iko Uwais has the makings of a new martial arts action star, but the non-stop action could actually fo with a few lighter or slower moments to give the audience a breather and make it feel less like it's you having your head pounded repeatedly against the floor. It's certainly something different though. Overall 7/10

Jeff Who Lives at Home. It's quite refreshing to see Jason Segal trying something a little bit more different and less obviously commercial. He plays the eponymous Jeff, a thirty something who still lives in his mum's basement and is convinced that everything is connected (the film opens with a knowing monologue on Signs) and after receiving a wrong number phone call, ends up pursuing various Kevins round the city on a journey that will also take in his brother's (Ed Helms) marital problems and his mum's (Susan Sarandon) secret admirer, all the while leaving you guessing as to if there is some greater purpose or if it is all just coincidence until the ending which will either delight or annoy. Overall - 8/10.

A Lesson in how not to do Expectation Management

So, over a week on from the local elections and what are to make of that. The dominant narrative in Scotland seems to be that it was a disappointing night for the SNP. Maybe that's not so surprising -I mean 2007 was a breakthrough year for them when they first overtook Labour at Holyrood and broke through in many new areas, using the new voting system to gain a presence on all councils bar Orkney and Shetland. Perhaps it's only natural that after 6 years in government they will have fallen back since then.

Except they haven't of course. The SNP vote share is up almost everywhere in Scotland compared to 2007 and the gained around 60 extra councillors. But two things have happened since then - firstly the stunning (and I suspect unrepeatable) result last May raised expectations that the Nats would sweep everything this May. And secondly, the SNP spin machine seemed to get carried away with their own success and started to talk up their chances - they were going to become the largest party in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow - they might even claim a majority in the latter.

Of course, they did none of this. Hence they had a disappointing day. In fact, they only gained a majority in Dundee and the SNP stronghold of Angus. Except -- look at the facts, they increased their vote and gained seats in Edinburgh. In Aberdeen they actually won the popular vote with Labour only gaining more seats by virtue of better vote balancing and a bit of luck. In Glasgow itself, the SNP vote was up by 8% across the city, a 2.5% swing from Labour and they gained 5 seats relative to 2007. By most standards, a pretty good result and if they hadn't talked up their chances so much (and in doing so probably galvanised the Labour vote as well) the narrative might be different - of steady SNP progress in the Labour heartlands.

By contrast, Labour were at a low point in 2007 - unpopular in government at both Westminster and Holyrood, yet they kept majority control in Glasgow. In 2012, in opposition everywhere losing control of Glasgow should never have been in question (even given their own internal difficulties). But the SNP have enabled them to put keeping control across as a great success.

For the other parties, the Conservatives lost seats, perhaps a few more than expected. For the LDs it was grim, but maybe not quite as grim as it could have been (at least outside Edinburgh) and the Greens made slow but steady progress, doubling their seats in Edinburgh and gaining their first seats in Striling, Midlothian and Aberdeenshire.

The results have seen a number of unlikely Labour-Conservative coalitions form across Scotland. This was considered in Edinburgh too, but here Labour leader Andrew Burns was wise enough to realise the voters might not like it too much unless the Greens were involved, as well. However, the Greens were wisely unwilling to be involved in a coalition where their votes were not necessary (ie they had no real power) and so Labour went with the SNP as coalition partners. It's perhaps not the worst result for Edinburgh, but alot will depend on how adept Burns is at managing Cardownie. Time will tell.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

In some ways this film is the spiritual successor to Calendar Girls - an ensemble piece for a Who's Who of British Acting talent of a certain age. Indeed, here you could argue that only Helen Mirren and Julie Walters are missing for the complete set. Like Calendar Girls it's also a pleasing but slightly uneven affair.

The set-up is that a collection of elderly British people move to a retirement hotel in India run rather haphazardly by Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel. There is probably a certain amount of cliche about the way that India is presented - temples and cricket in the streets, etc... and this certainly lacks some of Slumdog's bite, but director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt) does succeed in capturing something of a vivid atmosphere of colours and busy-ness all around.

At its best, the film is both moving and inspiring. The most sensitively handled threads revolve around Tom Wilkinson's retired judge and his personal quest from his youth and Judi Dench's widow who has been left bankrupt by her husband, but is determined not to to let that hold her back. And both actors excel in their respective roles. Elsewhere, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup are both used pretty much as the comic relief in their respective searches to find a late romance. The younger romance between Patel and Tena Desae also struggles from a lack of room to breathe and a lack of depth compared to some of the more mature story-lines.

Maggie Smith gives a brave performance as a racist former housekeepeer only there for a hip replacement, but her story-line is the one that most needed more space in order to make her change of heart more credible. Elsewhere, Penelope Wilton is the poorest served of the cast as the nagging wife who simply can't cope with India and apparrently lacks a single redeeming feature. Bill Nighy does his unassertive Bill Nighy thing as her hen-pecked husband and their relationship even includes a final act race to the airport (although with rather unusual outcomes).

Overall - 7/10 At its best this movie is beautifully shot, funny, moving and inspiring, but its held back by a little uneveness and not enough room for all the story-lines.

Avengers Assemble

After years of build up through several movies, Marvel's Avengers movie (now called Avengers Assemble which is almost inviting the sequel in the title) is finally here. It arrives carrying a weight of expectation that few films could live up to.

Marvel have made a few smart choices in their recruiting for this film. Firstly, in Joss Whedon they have a director and screenwriter who is used to managing large ensemble casts (Buffy/Angel and Serenity/Firefly) and giving each character their own arcs and moments to shine. He manages all the characters who've capably led their own films well as well as incorporating the newer characters (Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow). So Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man is allowed to steal all the limelight (or even all the best lines) and this feels like a true ensemble piece - even Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson are given their share.

The socond success is Mark Ruffalo as the third recent big screen attempt at the Hulk. Following Eric Bana's interesting attempt and Edward Norton's largely unsuccessful, Ruffalo is a great fit for Bruce Banner and finally makes the big green monster work for the big screen (plus he gets one of the best lines in the film).

The villain also works well with Tom Hiddleston's Loki returning from Thor to provide menace combined with wit and intelligence. If there's a disappointment it's that his much vaunted army of aliens are rather unimpressive - some of the visuals are good, but overall they're a bit characterless and end up as rather anonymous cannon fodder. The other main weakness is that there's maybe just a wee bit too much of the ego-clashing and fighting each other from the good guys before they actually gel - maybe one or two punch-ups too many. It does however produce a beautiful pay off in the closing battle with one particular Thor-Hulk moment.

Otherwise watch for some entertaining action, witty dialogue, a strong ensemble cast, some interesting interrrogation techniques by Black Widow and surprise early exit for one of more minor, but loved, characters. 

The Avengers has been an interesting cinematic experiment - building up over several years with different characters in separate films. The build-up has been mixed, ranging from the surprisingly impressive (Iron Man) to the disappointingly messy (The Incredible Hulk). The payoff is well worth it though- a thoroughly entertaining spectacle that comes very close to meeting expectations.

Overall - 8/10 With new offerings on the horizon from the big three superheroes (Superman, Batman, Spiderman), Marvel's team effort has set the bar quite high.

Resist Vote Management

Tomorrow Scotland goes to the polls to elect new local councils. For local elections up here we now have the more proportional Single Transferable Vote system with larger wards electing 3 or 4 councillors and voters being asked to rank the candidates in order of preference.

This has led some parties in wards where they have more than one candidate issuing voters with vote management instructions or suggestions in their leaflets, so half the ward will be asked to rank candidate A 1st and candidate B 2nd and the other half the other way round. If you live in such a ward and have received such instructions then I'd invite you to stop and think before following them. Who does it really help? Sure, it helps the party to balance their vote and increase their likelihood of getting two (or more) councillors elected, but it's rather insulting to your intelligence. They're telling you that's there nothing to choose between the candidates, but make your own mind up - one might be a really strong candidate and the other a complete numpty (and there are far too many numpties on councils already). Decide for yourself.

The other line that some parties are taking, which I really cannot understand, is in some areas they are suggesting that voters just rank their candidates and then stop. For example, John Mason MSP (SNP) published his completed ballot paper on Facebook showing 1st and 2nd preferences for the SNP candidates and no other preferences. Does he really not care if the other 2 seats in his ward are filled by LDs, Labour, Conservative, Green or somebody else? It's nonsensical, when you are electing 4 councillors not to express at least that many preferences unless there are people that you really could not vote for.

So make your own minds up, most importantly use your vote, but use it how you see fit with as many preferences as you wish to add.