Archive for the ‘Film’ Category
The first in a series of polemics inspired by Controversial Pub-Arguments
Lauded Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington is exactly the same in every film. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a good guy, a bad guy, a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, or a bad guy pretending to be a good guy. He’s always the same. He should take on some more challenging roles. I want to see him play a computer nerd, or an idiot, or a frenchman, or a woman, or a white man - only then can he realistically be considered a good actor.
I just don’t get it. Maybe I have missed some of his key performances. Here are the ones I can recall (voice-overs don’t count):
- Crimson Tide - Stern, determined black guy
- Training day - Dodgy, stern, determined black guy
- He Got Game - Stern, determined black guy
- Remember The Titans - Stern, determined black guy
- American Gangster - Dodgy, stern, determined black guy
- The Manchurian Candidate - Stern, determined black guy
- Malcolm X - Stern, determined black guy
Pattern? Now don’t get me wrong, he does it well, but in my eyes, it’s all he can do. He’s a one trick pony. Nobody agrees with me on this, but nobody has come up with a credible counter-argument either.
Also, is that the opposite of situational irony in the picture up there? I think it is.
A lot of miserable bastards have been complaining about Indiana Jones - joyless deadweight scribblers from the freesheets and various shit-sprongers who had made their minds up before the film was even released.
No lead-in tales of the cinema today - straight to the verdict. I thought this film was great. Yes, it is silly, geographically inaccurate, unrealistic and cheesy……….. but hang on, so were the original three! The visuals have been updated to accommodate a cold war era palette, giving the film the look of a spruced up 50’s classic, and this is complemented by a John Williams score punctuated by Elvis and Bill Haley.
The film hits the ground running with a great opening sequence, where Indy has a run-in with the delightfully bad Irina Spalko’s (Cate Blanchett) Commies in Area-51, before pausing for breath with the customary university scene. We are then introduced to young biker Mutt Williams (Shia LaBoeuf) before setting off on a chase sequence that more-or-less lasts until the end of the movie.
The action is great. There are some CGI scenes, but there is still enough fist-fighting and gap-jumping to make it classic Indiana. Ford makes the transition to aging Dr. Jones effortlessly, and this is probably his most watchable performance of the last fifteen years. He is, and probably always will be, the (thinking man’s) action-hero against whom all other (thinking man’s) action heroes will be measured.
Of course it’s not perfect. (My least favourite scene involved Mutt and some Tarzanesque action, but I didn’t spit out my popcorn and march out of the cinema.) It could have been better. It doesn’t have Sean Connery in it, it doesn’t have a paper-mache boulder rolling down a ramp, it doesn’t have a Hitler cameo. But it has other things (John Hurt, huge ants, quicksand). It’s not Saving Private Ryan, or Schindler’s List, or ET. But it’s not supposed to be. It’s just another Indiana Jones film.
I’ve read paperfulls of nit-picking reviews about IJatKotCS, giving it two and three stars out of five, but to me this film is blatantly entertaining, slickly put together and does exactly what you might expect from a sequel set 20 years after the originals. If you love the original three, I don’t see how you couldn’t enjoy this.
2 thumbs up out of 2.
I went along to ‘Son of Rambow’ in Cineworld last night, and made sure to avoid the masses of sweeteaters and seat hoggers by arriving early this time. As I was knackered, I was really hoping that the film wasn’t going to turn into an expensive nap.
Thankfully, the film whipped along at a decent pace, and kept my attention throughout. Youngsters, Bill Milner and Will Poulter seem like real finds, proving that child actors don’t have to all be the same. Milner does especially well, playing the innocent religious outcast Will Proudfoot, while Poulter is always amusing, and surprisingly layered, as school troublemaker Lee Carter.
On several occasions, the film veers from believable coming-of-age, boys-will-be-boys material (which is often hilarious, if unremarkable), into the surreal, comic-book world of a ten year old’s imagination, as the two boys try to film their own home-movie version of ‘First Blood’.
A couple of moments flirt with Hollywood shmaltz, but it seems to get away with it. The warm humour, the absurdity, the early 80’s setting, a soundtrack including The Cure and The Banshees, the (slightly over used) ridiculous French character Didier, and some fine performances left me with a smile on my face leaving the cinema.
-Two thumbs up out of two
I finally got around to seeing ‘There Will Be Blood’ last night. Before I get to the film, I should explain how annoyed I was by the time I sat down to watch it. Firstly, one of the credit-card ticket collection machines (in Cineworld, Parnell St) swallowed my cinema-going ladyfriend’s credit card, apparently, because it was not retangular enough. This delayed us, though a very helpful cine-man managed to regurgitate the card quite promptly. Then there was a huge queue at the bottom of the escalator because the ticket-checker man was too happy about something unapparent to work efficiently.
Nextly, at the pick and mix sweet buffet thing, I got carried away with pink and white chocolate in various shapes, and my cinema-going ladyfriend was annoyed by the lack of aniseed balls. Whatever they are. We joined the shortest queue, and stood there becoming more irritated as the bearded server (another happy, inefficient Irishman), took his time and flirted with the haw-haw deep-voiced ladies in front of us. Both stealing, and abandoning the merchandise were considered, but eventually we paid for the 300g of sweeties and made our way to screen 15.
Thirdly, screen 15 is a shitty little place, and was almost full. There were two decent seats free in the middle, a few in the front row, and various single seats available. The two good seats had bags and coats on them. I asked the bitch-women at either side of the seats if they were free, and they said no. We sat at the very end of the front row. Several people came in after us, and asked the same bitches the same question, same answer. The two seats remained occupied by luggage until at least 20 minutes into the film, at which point I forgot about them, but in the meantime various latecomers either sat alone, or decided to leave.
So, I twisted my head back and watched Daniel Day-Lewis loom over me for two and a half hours. The film was, in the main, very impressive. It’s been out too long to make it worth my while reviewing it properly. Suffice to say that I liked almost all of it, and the only thing that grated was the almost constant foreboding music, which I felt was completely overwrought, and largely unnecessary. There was enough drama on view without having to be spoon fed shammy suspense-audio. It seemed like a period-drama being crow-barred into some sort of thriller. Day-Lewis is good, the script is excellent in parts, and he makes good use of it.
But those fucking bitches. Cineworld, please ban luggage and abandon free-seating shows.
One thumb up out of two.
I saw the Coens’ latest last night, and thankfully it lived up to my very high expectations.
It really is a fantastic film, a desert Fargo with gripping performances from Brolin, Jones and Bardem. There is a proper review here.
One unexpected aspect for me was the complete lack of a musical soundtrack (barring one short-lived tune from some Mexican buskers). This adds hugely to the eerie, foreboding nature of the film.
Overall, a highly satisfying film, despite its inherent inconclusivity, if that’s a word. Don’t wait for the DVD.
Verdict: 2 thumbs out of 2.
I’m no film expert, and I’m certainly not a movie expert (what’s a movie?). But I sometimes find myself watching films, so I might as well give my unprofessional opinions on them here, even if they have been out for weeks/months/years already.
So, Eastern Promises, the latest offering from director David Cronenberg, is a Russian gangster story set in London. It stars Naomi “Put me down Kong!” Watts, and Viggo “You will suffer me!” Mortensen.
I’m not going to give you a detailed synopsis of the film, and just omit the ending, like so many annoying reviews do. Instead, suffice to say that it is the story of an ordinary person’s (Watts) encounter with some serious Russian mafia-types (including Mortensen) in London, who are involved in human trafficking and various other illegal affairs.
London is shown in a subtle and mainly cliche-free way, which is refreshing, and the characters are largely believable. The unfolding drama is punctuated with several scenes of visceral violence, which leave little to the imagination, and will have some people hiding behind their hand(s) in the cinema. I’ve also now seen bits of Viggo that he has probably never seen himself. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Anyway, this is a rubbish review. Mortensen is excellent. The film is good.
Verdict: 1 thumb out of 2
