The film appears to be influenced by many different stories
and ideas with the most notable being Snow White (obviously), but there is also
a lot of Joan of Ark in there as well as a little Twilight, Game of Thrones, Royal Wedding and the visual styling of
an acid trip. The castle appears to be modelled on Mont St.Michael in Normandy. The film’s design and effects are amongst its most successful
features. Debut director Rupert Sanders has created a sumptuous world of dark
forests, great castles, dancing fairies, giant trolls and medieval towns. The film looks
stunning.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is the daughter of King Magnus
(Noah Huntley) and is known as a great beauty. Her mother, the Queen dies when
she is young and her father remarries a freed prisoner called Ravenna (Charlize Theron). On their wedding
night Ravenna
kills the King and takes the Kingdom for herself. Snow White is locked up in an
isolated tower for several years as the Kingdom is left to rot under Ravenna ’s cruel rule.
When she comes of age it is revealed to Ravenna
that she is no longer the fairest of them all and that Snow White’s beauty has
usurped hers. Ravenna
tries to eat Snow White’s heart in order to stay forever young but Snow White
escapes. Ravenna sends a drunken widower
Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to bring Snow White back but things don’t pan out
the way Ravenna
hopes.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Infernal Affairs
"Remember this, if you see someone doing something but at the same time watching you... then he is a cop"
Triad boss Hon Sam (Eric Tsang) sends a group of young
gangsters to join the Hong Kong Police academy with the hope that they will infiltrate
the department, rise through the ranks and help him to avoid the attentions of
the Police. One of the most successful of these youngsters is Lau (Andy Lau)
who ascends the chain of command rapidly. One of Lau’s fellow cadets Chan
Wing-yan (Tony Leung) is expelled from the Academy but secretly becomes an
undercover cop, hoping to infiltrate Sam’s Triads.
The film is full of suspense and suspicion as we go back and
forth between the two moles, both trying to discover the other’s identity while
keeping theirs hidden. The plot is highly original, complex and fascinating but
it’s a shame I’d already seen Martin Scorsese's fantastic remake The Departed because I knew how things
were going to pan out. Even though I knew the ending there were still enough
differences and surprises to keep the action fresh. The film also feels much
more like a Michael Mann film than a Scorsese.
Labels:
2002,
7/10,
Action,
Alan Mak,
Andy Lau,
Anthony Wong,
Cantonese,
Eric Tsang,
ilm,
Infernal Affairs,
Movie,
Review,
Thriller,
Tony Leung,
Wai-keung Lau
Thor
"Legend tells us one thing; history, another. But, every now and then, we find something that belongs to both"
A thousand years after his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins),
king of Asgard defeated the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, his arrogant but
powerful son Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to take on his father’s old nemesis
after an unprovoked attack on Asgard. This is against his father’s will and as
a result Thor is cast out of Asgard, losing all of his power and most importantly
Mjolnir, his hammer. Landing on
Earth, Thor is accidentally run over by scientists Jane (Natalie Portman) and Erik
Selvig (Stellen Skarsgard) who are skeptical about his story. Thor must prove
his worth to Asgard and protect the Earth from his jealous brother Loki (Tom
Hiddleston) in order to be able to ascend his father’s throne.
I think that the
tone of this film was judged very well. It didn’t take itself too seriously
which considering the plot involves caped Viking Gods talking in late Middle
English and large blue Frost Giants was a good call. It wasn’t as funny as Iron Man but I laughed several times.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Prometheus
"A king has his reign, and then he dies. It's inevitable"
It’s 2089 and two archaeologists, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi
Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover the same star map
amongst paintings and artefacts from various different ancient civilisations
which had no interaction with each other. Convinced that this map is somehow
connected to our origins the two enlist the help of Weyland Industries and
visit the moon LV-223 aboard the ship Prometheus.
Four years later they and the crew, totalling seventeen are woken from
Stasis by robot David (Michael Fassbender) and with specific instructions from
Weyland representative Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) not to interact with
any species they might encounter, set off into an unidentified structure on the
Moon’s surface.
Firstly I’ll get the Alien
stuff out of the way. It definitely helps if you have seen the Alien franchise but is in no way a
necessity. The film can be viewed as both a stand alone movie and as a prequel. I’ve only recently watched the series for the first time so it is
still fresh in my mind. As such on a few occasions I thought to myself “ooh I
recognise that” and “aahhh, so that means…” but the film also made me want to
watch the original Alien again as I
was a little confused at times. I think that my confusion was due to two
reasons. Firstly the plot is fairly complex and you have to pay close
attention. Secondly, there are far too many plot holes. I won’t go into them
here in order to avoid spoilers but if you’re interested then fellow blogger Life vs Film has compiled an extensive
list here.
For me the film’s biggest strength was its atmosphere. The
film isn’t as tense as I’d expected it to be but is rather more like a mystery.
Unlike say Alien you aren’t waiting
for something to jump out and scare you but rather it unfolds very slowly, creating
more questions as it progresses. Many of the questions are subsequently
answered but some are left open which I liked but left me feeling slightly
frustrated. The tone was much less about horror and more about what, why, where
and how and tone wise it is closer to Scott's Blade Runner than Alien. I loved how slowly the plot unfolded but wonder if the Transformers generation will have the
patience to stick with it?
The Birth of a Nation
One of the most famous and best films of the early silent
era, The Birth of a Nation can be
split into two distinct parts. The first part is a story of the American Civil
War and features two families, The Stonemans from Pennsylvania and the Camerons
from South Carolina. Early on the Stonemans are seen visiting their friends in
the south and the beginnings of relationships occur between some of the younger
members of the family. There is slight tension in the air though as the Civil
War looms in the near future. Fast forward to the war and both families join
their respective armies and in the end meet on the battlefield in an incredible
battle scene. It is at about this time that the first overtly obvious racism crops
up as a group of black militia ransack the Cameron home and search for white
woman to abuse. This section ends with a fairly accurate depiction of the assassination
of President Lincoln.
Part two, The
Reconstruction begins with views of a battered and beaten south in which
the formerly wealthy Cameron family has been reduced to rags and renting out
rooms in their mansion. The head of the Stoneman family travels south with his protégé,
a mixed race man called Lynch. With the help of black soldiers they turn white
voters away from poll booths and create a landslide election win in which the South Carolina legislature
is filled with black members. Lynch is elected as Governor General. With laws
being passed which give blacks more rights and infringe on the rights of whites
(intermarriage – the outrage!!) Ben Cameron forms an organisation called the Ku
Klux Klan who band together to threaten and kill black men who attack white
women.
Friday, 1 June 2012
In the Park
Chaplin’s first one reel farce for Essanay is set in a park.
A lady has her handbag stolen by a thief who then attempts to steal Chaplin’s sausages.
Chaplin ends up with the bag and it goes from person to person with each
usually ending up with a brick to the face or foot to the bottom until one man
tries to kill himself and another ends up in Police custody.
For such a short film In
the Park has a surprisingly large cast. Chaplin regulars such as Edna
Purviance, Leo White, Ernest Van Pelt and Bud Jamison all appear along with three or four other
bit players. Considering the film is only fourteen minutes long it feels like a
lot happens and is more reminiscent of Chaplin’s Keystone pictures rather than
say The Champion which was released
just a week earlier than this.
Labels:
1915,
6/10,
Bud Jamison,
Charlie Chaplin,
Edna Purviance,
Ernest Van Pelt,
Film,
In the Park,
Leo White,
Movie,
Review,
Silent Comedy
Benda Bilili!
Benda Bilili! Is a
2010 documentary about a group of disabled musicians from Kinshasa , Congo
who use rudimentary and hand made instruments to produce wonderful rumba and
reggae music. The band are followed from 2004 to 2010 by French film makers Renaud
Barret and Florent de La Tullaye as they progress from living on the streets
and practicing at the city’s zoo to recording an album and touring Europe. The
film focuses on the struggles of the various members and those around them and
upon their influence in the city and especially on the young street kids who
follow and assist them.
The band use strange hand peddled tricycles to get about as
most of the members suffer from Polio and are unable to walk. Their songs are
about their lives on the streets from being laughed at for being handicapped to
songs about sleeping on cardboard. Bad things keep coming at the various
members but they never let it get them down and remain focused on making a
better life for themselves and their families. In one scene, the leader of the
band Staff Benda Bilili a street papa called Ricky Lickabu receives a call to
say that the shack that he has been staying at has been burned down. He simply
turns to the camera and says “these things happen in life”. He is later seen sleeping
on the street with his wife and four children.
Labels:
2010,
8/10,
Benda Bilili,
Documentary,
Film,
Florent de La Tullaye,
French,
Movie,
Renaud Barret,
Review
GB Posters Blog - The Queen
GB Posters are celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and asked if I could write something for them. I thought about it and asked some people for suggestions and decided I'd write a review of The Queen, a film I hadn't seen but had heard was very good. You can visit GB Posters and see what I thought by clicking on the link below.
http://www.gbposters.com/blog/jubilee-review-the-queen
And you can read my other reviews for the website by clicking on the GB Posters tab on the right of this page.
The Road
"You think I come from another world, don't you?"
In the years following an unspecified apocalyptic event a
man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) spend life on the road,
constantly moving south in search of food and shelter and hoping to avoid bands
of hungry cannibals.
I first saw this film in the cinema a couple of years ago
and was blown away by its bleakness and beauty. I’ve mentioned before how much
I love the look of decaying beauty and there are few films that show that so
much as this. The screen is filled with various shades of grey and the sun
never shines. The backdrop to the family’s struggle is filled with decrepit
landscapes ruined by an unknown catastrophic event. These scenes are further heightened
by flash backs to before the event in which Mortensen and his wife Charlize
Theron are seen to be enjoying life in a colourful and vibrant world. Other
flashbacks show life in the years after the apocalypse during which Theron is
pregnant and subsequently where she struggles to deal with her harsh new
surroundings.
Labels:
2009,
7/10,
Charlize Theron,
Drama,
Film,
Guy Pearce,
John Hillcoat,
Michael K. Williams,
Movie,
Review,
Robert Duvall,
The Road,
Viggo Mortensen
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Paris, Texas
"You just... disappeared. And now I'm working here. I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice"
Four years after going missing Travis Henderson (Harry Dean
Stanton) walks out of the vast South Texas
desert. After collapsing in a saloon a doctor treats him and discovers his
brother’s business card in his wallet. Travis’ brother Walt (Dean Stockwell)
flies to Texas
to meet his brother and has many questions for him. Travis appears to be mute
however and doesn’t eat, sleep or talk for days. When he finally opens his
mouth it is revealed that he remembers little about the last four years. Dean
takes Travis back to his L.A.
home where he and his wife Anne (Aurore Clement) have been looking after Travis’
seven year old son Hunter (Hunter Carson) since Travis’ wife Jane (Nastassja Kinski)
left him with them and disappeared herself. Travis has to try and re-assimilate
himself back into every day life and reconnect with his young son before
setting out to try and find his estranged wife.
In many ways this film reminded me of director Wim Wenders
1976 film Kings of the Road. Both
films take place mostly on the road in quiet, almost desolate places with two
characters who barely know each other. This film is more about the family unit
and loss but is equally as good. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes as well as
numerous other prizes and it’s fantastic.
Labels:
1984,
9/10,
Aurore Clement,
Dean Stockwell,
Drama,
Film,
Harry Dean Stanton,
Hunter Carson,
Movie,
Nastassja Kinski,
Paris Texas,
Review,
Wim Wenders
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