An ageing shoeshine, Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms) takes in a
young African boy, Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) after he escapes from a ship’s
cargo container in the French port
of Le Havre . Despite
Marcel’s lack of money and sadness that his wife Arletty (Kati Outinen) is
gravely ill in hospital, he does all he can to reunite the young migrant with
his mother who has settled in London .
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Le Havre
Tuesday 11 September 2012
The Rink
A waiter (Charlie Chaplin) gets into trademark mischief at
work and then goes to a skating rink on his lunch break. There he meets a
pretty girl (Edna Purviance) and the two of them hit it off. The waiter has a
confrontation though with a customer (Eric Campbell) who recognises him from
the restaurant and the two start bickering and fighting while skating. Having
left the rink, the girl invites the waiter to her skating party that night but instead
of revealing his real job he tells her that he is Sir Cecil Seltzer. Later, at
the party, people who had met during the day once again meet up as various
strands of the story come together, resulting in a fast paced chase ending.
I was a little bored by the first half of this film which
was set mainly in a restaurant, but my enjoyment grew as the action turned to
the rink. There Chaplin was able to showcase his remarkable skating skills and
ability to bully his co star Eric Campbell in an ever changing variety of ways.
The second half more than makes up for the lacklustre opening and left me with
a smile on my face if not a laughter induced stomach ache.
Sunday 9 September 2012
Lawless
Lawless is a
prohibition era gangster biopic about three brothers from Virginia . Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf) is
the youngest of the brothers and lacks the courage, strength or attitude to
violence that his older brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clark) possess.
Forrest especially is a sort of Clint Eastwood figure; strong, silent and
deadly. All three are involved in the moonshine business but their trade comes
under threat when a new Special Deputy (Guy Pearce) arrives from Chicago to put a halt to
their operations.
The film shares traits with Director John Hillcoat’s
previous film The Proposition. Both
focus on brothers outside the law in semi-desolate locations who must battle across a
thin line between right and wrong against corrupt officials. The visually stunning but
run down locations and decaying beauty also help bring to mind Hillcoat’s The Road. This film though is more of a coming of age story as
young Jack Bondurant fights for respect from his brothers and the gangster who
inhabit his world. It is also a tale that blurs the lines between good and
evil, right and wrong with the Bondurant boys becoming anti heroes who the audience
will be routing for from start to finish.
Labels:
2012,
8/10,
Biopic,
Drama,
Gangster,
Gary Oldman,
Guy Pearce,
Jason Clark,
Jessica Chastain,
John Hillcoat,
Lawless,
Mia Wasikowska,
Shia LaBeouf,
Tom Hardy
Anna Karenina
Director Joe Wright’s adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 novel
Anna Karenina is one of the most
visually stunning and artistically bold films I’ve seen in quite some time.
Wright places most of his plot within the confines of a dilapidated theatre and
has his actors make use of the stage, stalls and behind the scenes areas when
forming the sets of late Tsarist Saint Petersburg. Actors will walk from one
part of the theatre to another with sets and costumes changing around them, all
with the hustle and bustle of both a real theatre and lively city. It’s a
stylistic decision which was probably met with scepticism by studio bosses and
the like but works incredibly well to bring to life the characters which
themselves are so wonderfully written by Tolstoy.
Anna Karenina (Keira Knightly) is married with a son to senior
statesman and a man who is greatly admired and respected in society, Count Alexei
Karenin (Jude Law). Their marriage is typical of the society in which they live
in that it was not for love and he is much older than she is. On a trip to
visit her brother Prince Stepan (Matthew Macfadyen) in Moscow she attracts the attention of a young,
rich and handsome cavalry officer called Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
After an infatuation the two fall madly in love but in a closely nit society in
which infidelity is ‘against the rules’, Anna must decide which is more
important? Her standing, child and image or true love.
Saturday 8 September 2012
Behind the Screen
Behind the Screen stars
Charlie Chaplin as a stagehand on a movie set. Chaplin is overworked and
underappreciated and his boss (Eric Campbell) spends most of the time asleep,
leaving Chaplin to do the heavy lifting. Meanwhile a young woman (Edna
Purviance) is trying to get her big break as an actress but is turned down so
dresses up as a male stagehand in order to have at least some involvement in
the movies. At the same time the fellow stagehands go on strike for being woken
up by a studio boss and plot their revenge…
This isn’t one of the funniest Mutual shorts but it
certainly has one of the better plots up to this point. It’s multilayered and features side plot
as well as the main narrative. It is also an opportunity to see behind the
scenes of an early movie set in much the same way as His New Job, Chaplin’s first film for Essanay a year earlier. What
the film is most famous for now though is its forthright joke about
homosexuality, a subject which was barely mentioned in cinema for another fifty
years.
Labels:
1916,
6/10,
Behind the Screen,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
Edna Purviance,
Eric Campbell,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy
Friday 7 September 2012
The Royal Tenenbaums
I first saw this film when I was about sixteen on one of my
frequent trips to the cinema with friends. When one of them told me about it I
thought it sounded awful. I was used to seeing action and comedy films on a Friday
night and didn’t want to sit through a film about some family and an old man
dying. In the end the film completely shocked me and helped to introduce me to
the joys of cinema, seeing passed the Friday night popcorn movies to which I
was accustomed. It was also the first of many Wes Anderson films that I fell in
love with. I often site Martin Scorsese’s Taxi
Driver as being the film which opened my eyes to cinema but thinking about
it now, this film did the same thing, albeit to a lesser extent, two years
earlier.
Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) is thrown out of his house by
his wife (Anjelica Houston) before their three genius children (Ben Stiller,
Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow) reach their teens. This has a far reaching impact
on all of their lives and none of the three grow up to fully reach their
potential. Playwrite Margot (Paltrow) stops writing, Tennis champion Richie (Wilson ) retires ages
twenty-six after a breakdown and business guru Chas (Stiller) becomes overly
protective of his own children following the untimely death of his wife. After
years of being out of the picture, Royal decides he wants to become reacquainted
with his quirky children but ends up going about it in all the wrong ways.
Wednesday 5 September 2012
The Pawnshop
Charlie Chaplin’s sixth film for Mutual is one with very
high highs and disappointingly low lows. It features a scenario and story which
doesn’t really go anywhere but also features several moments of slapstick that
are amongst his best to date.
Chaplin stars as a pawnshop assistant and gets in a long
running fight with fellow employee John Rand. Typically inept at his job,
Chaplin is eventually fired only to be taken back on straight away after his
boss Henry Bergman has a change of heart. Meanwhile Chaplin’s attentions are
drawn to Bergman’s daughter Edna Purviance who is busy baking in the back of
the shop. Trouble appears late on as a thief, Eric Campbell enters the shop
intent on taking it for everything it’s got.
Labels:
1916,
7/10,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
Edna Purviance,
Eric Campbell,
Henry Bergman,
John Rand,
Short,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy,
The Pawnshop
Tuesday 4 September 2012
The Hurricane
In 1966 professional boxer Ruben ‘Hurricane’ Carter was
arrested for triple homicide and subsequently found guilty and sentenced to
three life sentences for the crime. Despite always maintaining his innocence a
second trial also came to the same guilty conclusion. Biopic The Hurricane tells the story of Carter’s
fight to clear his name with the help of some unlikely accomplices in the form
of three Canadians and the teenager from Brooklyn
who they’d taken in. Denzel Washington stars as Hurricane Carter in one of the
performances of his career in a film which portrays the hatred, racism and
injustice that the human race is unfortunately capable of dishing out to one of
its own.
The film uses a non linear timeline to flash back and
forward from Carter’s early years, through his boxing career, incarceration and
the eventual meeting between himself and Lesra Martin (Vicellous Reon Shannon),
Lisa Peters (Deborah Kara Unger), Sam Chaiton (Liev Schreiber) and Terry
Swinton (John Hannah) who all fought tirelessly to prove his innocence. The
bulk of the film concentrates on the period from Carter’s arrest in 1966 to the
mid 1980s though. Although it is far from a perfect film and inaccuracies have
been levelled towards it, the incredible story and Washington ’s performance make this a film
which I’d recommend to anyone.
Monday 3 September 2012
The Count
Charlie Chaplin’s fifth film for Mutual is a somewhat simpler
film than its immediate predecessors The
Vagabond and One A.M. and is more
reminiscent of his Essanay work, albeit it more sophisticated and slightly
funnier. Chaplin plays an inept Tailor’s assistant who gets fired for burning a
Count’s trousers. His boss (Eric Campbell) finds an invitation to a party at
the house of Miss Moneybags (Edna Purviance) and decides to impersonate the
rich Count in order to marry the attractive, rich girl. Chaplin is also at the
party having snuck in through the back door and beats Campbell to the impersonation. All hell
breaks lose though when the real Count arrives, along with the Police to chase
out the imposters.
The Count features
lots of funny moments but lacks the knockout blow of the likes of One A.M. or The Bank. It’s testament to the quality of Chaplin’s Mutual films
that I felt disappointed by The Count even
though it is far superior to a lot of his Essanay films.
Labels:
1916,
7/10,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
Edna Purviance,
Eric Campbell,
Short,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy,
The Count
Sunday 2 September 2012
North by Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock’s tale of mistaken identity and Cold War
spying has gone down as one of the most highly regarded films in history. It
was nominated for three Academy Awards, is ranked at 55 in the AFI’s 100 Years
100 Movies ranking and holds an 8.6/10 on IMDb. Carey Grant plays Roger
Thornhill, an Ad Man who is abducted by James Mason’s ‘Townsend’ character
under the suspicion that he is the spy George Kaplan. Thornhill is chased
across America from New York to South Dakota
via Chicago by
the Police and Townsend, meeting the seductive Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint)
along the way. In this next sentence I’m going to say something that will
probably draw a lot of negative comments along the lines of “You don’t know
what you’re talking about” or “You mustn’t have been watching it right” but not
only do I not think North by Northwest is
a great film but I personally believe it is the worst Alfred Hitchcock film I’ve
seen so far. The film undoubtedly features some great stand out moments but as
far as suspense and thrills go, this one left me cold.
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) is a shy and retiring man
living in the garage of his brother and sister-in-law’s house. He frequently
tries to avoid contact with his friends, co-workers and family and when he does
have to interact with others, conversation is stilted before Lars is able to
escape. Despite the obvious interest of colleague Margo (Kelli Garner) Lars has
no girlfriend so his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and Sister-in-law Karin (Emily
Mortimer) are shocked when one day Lars appears at their front door with the
news that he has a house guest; a wheelchair bound, half Brazilian, half Danish
missionary whom he met on the internet. Gus and Karin are initially overjoyed
that Lars has met something but are soon startled to discover that ‘Bianca’ is
in fact a Real Doll sex doll whom
Lars is convinced is a real person. Worried about his mental health his family
and friends all rally around Lars and attempt to welcome Bianca into the
community while trying to get Lars the help that he so obviously needs.
The term rollercoaster ride of emotions is a little bit
tacky and overused but it applies here. Every few seconds while watching this
film I went from laugh out loud laughter to shock to sadness and back again.
The film manages to be incredibly uplifting, sad and funny, often at the same
time and features some great acting and an astonishing and original script.
Saturday 1 September 2012
The Thing
A Norwegian helicopter is seen chasing a dog through the
Antarctic until it reaches a US Research Station. A man emerges and tries
killing the dog but is himself shot by one of the researchers. Eager to
understand what drove the man to such lengths, helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt
Russell) and Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) head off to find out what is going on
in the Norwegian station. When they arrive they find death and destruction but
discover that the Norwegians had discovered a craft and frozen body deep inside
the ice. The US
team take the body back to their base for an autopsy but soon discover it isn’t
a dead body but a thawed out creature that is capable of killing and metamorphosing into anyone with which it
has contact. Not knowing who amongst them is still human the team enters into a
climate of fear and mistrust and battle to stop The Thing from reaching civilization.
This film was recommended
to me by a friend a few months ago at the same time as I watched The Fly. I liked that film but The Thing is on a whole different level.
I enjoyed it from start to finish and although never scared, thought it was a
brilliant thriller with wonderful creature design.
Thursday 30 August 2012
Total Recall
Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick which was the inspiration
for the 1990 film of the same name, Total
Recall takes place after a chemical war at the end of the twenty-first century.
Following the fallout, only two areas are left habitable on Earth; The United
Federation of Britain (UFB) and The Colony (the landmass of Australia )
which is where the workers are forced to live. Each day they must take “the
fall”, a kind of superfast lift which takes them through the centre of the
Earth and joins up the two habitable areas. One of these workers is Douglas
Quaid (Colin Farrell) who wakes up from a reoccurring dream about trying to
save a woman from synthetic cops. Upon waking he is comforted by his wife Lori
(Kate Beckinsale) but feels as though he is meant for something more. Quaid
discovers Rekall, a company which can implant false memories and decides to
check it out. This decision creates a ripple effect and leaves Quaid unsure of whom
he is and why people, including some of those closest to him want him dead.
I saw Paul Verhoeven’s original 1990 film again recently and
having now seen both cannot make up my mind as to which one is better. Although
they have a similar plot and share themes they are two very different films,
made for different times.
Tuesday 28 August 2012
D-BOX Cinema Seating
Have you ever been on a rollercoaster and after the three
minute ride though to yourself, “I wish that could have lasted another couple
of hours.”? Well a few months ago my local cinema introduced D-BOX seating to
one of their screens. Having read up on it at the time I came to the conclusion
that it was another ridiculous and expensive gimmick which would surely detract
from the cinema going experience rather than as advertised, enhancing it. Several
months later I finally decided to give it a chance and went to see The Expendables 2 in one of the new
seats. Here is my review.
In case anyone hasn’t heard of them (and I hadn’t), D-BOX seats are seats which vibrate and tilt in time with the on screen action and are advertised on it’s website in the following way “You will live the action... D-BOX creates an unmatched realistic immersive experience, the most amazing Home Entertainment experience you have ever tried”. D-BOX is advertised as bringing you closer to the action and as being a more immersive experience. We’ve heard that claimed for 3D which is generally starting to be regarded as an expensive gimmick which rarely improves a film. Is the same so for D-BOX?
The Expendables 2
After battling Central American rebels in the popular but
critically mixed 2010 film The Expendables, old school action stars Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Randy
Couture and the gang are back for some more noisy, mad and blood splattering
fun as CIA Operative Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists Stallone’s group of
Expendables in tracking a downed Chinese plane inside Albania. The plane was
carrying a valuable cargo which the CIA want but it is taken by international
criminal and arms dealer (and I’m not making this bit up) Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude
Van Damme) and his mercenary group of caricature Albanians. Stallone and his
team must try to get to Vilain before the plane’s cargo leads him to some
highly combustible merchandise.
Although first film had its fun and crazy moments I wasn’t
really a fan. I’ve never been a big action movie guy and don’t really like
Stallone. This time though a lot of the problems of the first have diminished
slightly and it is improved with a better story, great cameos and improved
special effects.
Monday 27 August 2012
The Kid with a Bike
A troubled young boy Cyril (Thomas Doret) lives in a Children’s
Home after his father decided he was no longer able to cope with caring for
him. Unable to accept this, the boy escapes the Home and goes back to the apartment
that he and his father shared. Finding him gone, the boy continues to run from
the Home’s staff before clattering into a woman in a Doctor’s waiting room
while yelling about his missing bike. Later, the same woman is able to track
down the bike and brings it to the Home and the boy asks if he can stay with
her at weekends. The woman, a hairdresser called Samantha (Cecile de France)
accepts and the boy spends time with her while she attempts to free him from
the anger and rage that keeps getting him into trouble.
I first heard about this film last May when it won the Jury
Prize at Cannes .
I’d wanted to see it at the cinema but being a Belgian film about an angry boy
and a bicycle I was unable to find it in the city of 3 million people in which
I live. Although I was disappointed not to get to see it at the cinema, now I
have seen it I don’t feel like I was missing out. While it’s an interesting
story about two very different relationships, I didn’t personally enjoy it as
much as the reviews I’d read suggested I would.
The Bourne Legacy
Running parallel in time to The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy stars Jeremy Renner as
black ops operative Aaron Cross. After completing a gruelling hike across the
Alaskan wilderness, Cross arrives at an isolated cabin where he meets a fellow
operative (Oscar Isaac). Due to events elsewhere, linked to the plot of the
first film in the series, the people running the secret Operation Outcome of
which Cross is a member decide to shut it down by killing all staff involved. A
drone attacks Cross but he manages to escape and tracks down scientist Dr.
Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) who he hopes can lead him to stocks of the pills
he needs to remain a superhuman.
With a plot that I didn’t fully understand and some decent
action set pieces, The Bourne Legacy is
a film that is not without some merit but overall I could probably have lived
without seeing.
Labels:
2012,
6/10,
Action,
Edward Norton,
Jeremy Renner,
Oscar Isaac,
Rachel Weisz,
The Bourne Lagacy,
Thriller,
Tony Gilroy
One A.M.
Charlie Chaplin’s forth film for the Mutual Film Company is
a unique two reeler in which he is almost the only person on screen for the
film’s entirety. Apart from an establishing scene featuring Albert Austin as a
disgruntled cab driver, Chaplin has the film to himself as he struggles to get
up to bed whilst drunk. Chaplin arrives home at 1am to find numerous inanimate
objects in his way in his quest for a nights sleep.
In this twenty-six minute short a drunken Chaplin is scared
by stuffed animals, baffled by a revolving table, constantly defeated by a
flight of stairs before being bested by a fold away bed. Chaplin takes inspiration
from the drunken character that made him famous in England with the Fred Karno
Company, the very same character that drew the attention of Mack Sennett and
gave him his break in the movie industry.
Labels:
1916,
8/10,
Albert Austin,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
One A.M.,
Review,
Short,
Short Film,
Silent Comedy
Sunday 26 August 2012
Departures
2008 Oscar winning Japanese film Departures is a deeply moving but sometimes darkly comic look at Japanese
funeral ceremonies. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cellist, playing
with an Orchestra in Tokyo
until it is shut down due to poor ticket sales. Short of money he is forced to
move back to his remote mountain hometown and live in the house that his mother
left him when she died. Spotting an advert in the paper for ‘assisting
departures’, a job requiring no experience, Daigo goes for an interview. He is immediately
hired but soon finds out that the advert had a typo and the job is in fact to
prepare the dead for cremation. Daigo keeps his new job secret from his wife Mika
(Ryoko Hirosue) for fear that she will disprove and slowly learns the art of
the job from his quiet but dedicated boss Shoei (Tsutomo Yamazaki). Despite
being initially repulsed by the job, Daigo soon learns to respect the delicate
work carried out by himself and his boss but still has to convince his wife and
friend Yamashita (Tetta Sugimoto).
Departures is a
film that really messed with my emotions. I went from laughing out loud to
being close to tears before an emotional but satisfying ending. It is not surprising
that the film won so many awards upon its release and continues to be held in
such high regard.
Rope
In a New York City
apartment a faint scream can be heard as two friends’ murder a third before
concealing his body inside a large wooden chest placed prominently inside their
living room. The crime is committed moments before people who know the dead man
arrive for a party. Lead conspirator Brandon Shaw (John Dall) commits the
murder as an intellectual exercise in order to prove his superiority over the
dead man and other party guests. Fellow conspirator Phillip Morgan (Farley
Granger) is less confident about the crime and much more conscious of having a
dead body in his midst. Amongst the party guests are the dead man, David’s
parents, girlfriend, ex-classmate and all four friend’s ex-prep school
housemaster Rupert Cadell (James Stewart) of whom Brandon is most wary of being able to
discover the body.
The film comes off like a play and is indeed based on a play
from the 1920s. The entire plot takes place inside one apartment set and mostly
within one room of that apartment. Although characters move about the setting I
don’t think the camera ever leaves the living room. Adding to the sense of
being a play is the editing. The film is shot as though one long, continuous
take though is actually broken up into ten separate takes with each cut being
masked by a man’s jacket moving across the screen or the back of some
furniture. This allowed the director, Alfred Hitchcock the chance to cut scenes
and change the magnificent backdrop which indicates the passing of the day.
Saturday 25 August 2012
The Vagabond
A Musician-Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) leaves town following a
chase to find himself in a gypsy camp. There he finds a poor abducted girl
(Edna Purviance) who he attempts to cheer up with his music. Having witnessed a
savage beating of the girl by the gypsy chieftain (Eric Campbell), the Tramp
goes about saving the girl and setting her free. While attempting to woo her, a
handsome artist chances by and has Edna sit for a portrait. The portrait
attracts the attention of Edna’s estranged family who attempt to take her away
from the Tramp for good.
I honestly can’t think of a single Chaplin film during which
I’ve laughed so little but on this occasion that is not a negative statement.
Here Chaplin provides plenty of his trademark pathos and creates a film which
is much more of a romantic drama than romantic comedy or slapstick comedy.
Labels:
1916,
8/10,
Charlie Chaplin,
Drama,
Edna Purviance,
Eric Campbell,
Leo White,
Lloyd Bacon,
Romance,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy,
The Vagabond
Brave
A young Scottish Princess called Merida (Kelly Macdonald) spends her days
fighting against the rules set by her mother Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) and
wishes to be more of a free spirit, able to ride her horse, eat and wear what
she wants and most importantly practise her archery skills. A trip to a Witch
adds a further twist to the mother daughter relationship and puts both their lives
at risk.
Despite being a huge Pixar fan I went into Brave with a
small sense of dread. I expected, and as it turned out I was right, that this
would be Pixar’s most Disney-like feature to date and that’s something that disappoints
me. We already have Disney to bring us fairytales of Princesses and suitors but
there are very few studios who are brave enough or mad enough to come up with
the likes of Toy Story, Wall-E or Up. For me there was little to
distinguish Brave from a modern
Disney film along the same lines as Tangled.
Despite this, Brave is still a
fun film with a lot to like.
Big Miracle
Based on a true story, Big
Miracle is about the efforts in 1988 to save three Grey Whales from
drowning in frozen seas of Point
Barrow , Alaska , one
of the most northerly inhabited settlements on Earth. Anchorage based reporter Adam Carlson (John Krasinski)
is reporting from Barrow when he spots a small gap in sea ice through which
three whales are struggling to breathe. Once his story gets national coverage,
thousands of reporters, National Guard and Greenpeace activists including Rachel
Kramer (Drew Barrymore) descend on Barrow to cover the story and help set the
whales free.
Although billed as a family film, for me this feels like the
next generation disaster movie. We’ve already seen a shift from the terrorist style
movies of the 90s towards the 2012 environmental
type movies and this feels like the next step. Throughout the film I was
constantly reminded of Deep Impact and
Independence Day. There are several
intertwining stories with overlapping characters, families watching the
proceedings on TV, reporters from all over the world lined up in that tracking
shot which you always get, enemies coming together, several love stories, tragedy
to open the third act and surprising international cooperation saving the day. If
you substituted the whales for a meteor or alien invasion then you have the
exact same disaster film which everyone has seen before.
Labels:
2012,
5/10,
Big Miracle,
Dermot Mulroney,
Drama,
Drew Barrymore,
John Krasinski,
Ken Kwapis,
Kristen Bell,
Ted Danson,
Vinessa Shaw
Friday 24 August 2012
The Imposter
In 1994 a thirteen year old Texan boy called Nicholas Barclay
disappeared from San Antonio .
Three years later his family received a call from a Spanish official, claiming
that Nicholas had been abducted by a sex slave ring but was now with him in Spain .
Despite Nicholas leaving as a thirteen year old with almost Aryan colouring and
returning tanned with dark hair and eyes along with a foreign accent, the
family accepted the boy who returned as their son. This documentary tells the
story of Nicholas’ disappearance and the extraordinary events in 1997 when it
seemed that he had returned.
The documentary is created using a mixture of talking heads;
achieve home videos and convincing reconstructions which are themselves
combined with the talking heads. Almost all of the major players in the story
take part which is a little surprising as by the end hardly anyone comes out
with any sort of credibility.
I went into this film knowing the story having read about it
recently in a magazine. I knew very little about the film however and wasn’t
actually sure if it was a documentary or drama. The film plays its cards very
early and it isn’t exactly a spoiler, especially given the title, to tell you
that the person who returns home in 1997 is not Nicholas Barclay. The real
interest for the first half of the film at least, is how on earth this man
managed to convince Spanish officials, the American Embassy and most incredibly
the family of the missing boy that he was Nicholas. It’s almost too unreal to
be true. Without giving too much away, the man who claims to be the boy is of
French-Algerian descent and several years older than Barclay. He looks nothing
like the boy.
Wednesday 22 August 2012
OSS 117: Lost in Rio
OSS 117: Lost in Rio is the sequel to one of the funniest films I’ve
ever seen, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
and is bought to us by the team behind that film and The Artist, Oscar Winners Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin. A
James Bond pastiche, Dujardin stars as OSS 177, France ’s top secret agent. It’s
1967 and he is on a mission to capture a microfilm containing the names of
French Nazi collaborators from an ex-Nazi now residing in Brazil . He is
joined by a beautiful Israeli Army Officer, Delores Koulechov (Louise Monot) who is tasked with
bringing the Nazi back to Israel
to face a war crimes tribunal. 117 bumbles his way through Brazil with the help of his Israeli
colleague, attracting the interest of various women and the CIA along the way.
I was really
excited to see this sequel as Cairo, Nest of Spies is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in the last year. I’d
previously read that the sequel wasn’t as well received in France as the
original and I’d have to agree with that assessment. It is in no way as good as Cairo, Nest of Spies but is still an
enjoyable hour and a half.
The Vow
Around four minutes into The
Vow I looked down at the notes I was making and they read “Why sex in the
middle of the road?” “How did he get her permit?” “He looks like a potato”. I
was tempted to just make that my review but I will go on.
Paige Collins (Rachel McAdams) and her husband Leo (Channing
Tatum) are driving back from the movies when she decides to initiate sex at a
set of traffic lights. Most people would perhaps wait until they were home or
maybe nip down an alley but Paige goes for it in the middle of a snow covered
street. After taking her seatbelt off the car is rear ended by a truck which
sends Paige through the windshield in ultra slow motion. Once Paige wakes up in
hospital with the smallest scars imaginable, we discover that she has short
term memory loss and has forgotten her entire life with Leo. He looks like a
confused Mr Potato head and runs away but decides to come back and try to get
her to remember their life together (without using any photos, videos, texts or
facebook updates etc). His quest is complicated with the introduction of
Paige’s stuffy parents (Jessica Lange & Sam Neill) who want their daughter
back.
Labels:
2012,
3/10,
Channing Tatum,
Drama,
Jessica Lang,
Michael Sucsy,
Rachel McAdams,
Romance,
Sam Neill,
Scott Speedman,
The Vow
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Gone
Gone is a
sometimes tense but often boring psychological thriller from Brazilian Director
Heitor Dhalia, working in the
English language for the first time. Amanda Seyfried stars as Jill, a young
woman living with her recovering alcoholic sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) after
an alleged attack on her the previous year. The police dismissed her abduction
and attack claims after finding no evidence and Jill was eventually admitted to
a mental institute. Back in the present, Jill returns home one morning, after a
nightshift as a waitress to find that her sister has disappeared. With little
help from the police Jill takes it upon herself to track down Molly and her assailant,
attracting the attention of the law towards herself in the process.
The film has
frequent flashbacks to Jill’s alleged attack which come to her as she edges
closer to tracking down Molly. The plot also opens lots of avenues for possible
answers but leaves the audience feeling disappointed once the answers start
arriving.
Thursday 16 August 2012
The Adventures of Tintin
Known in the UK
as The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret
of the Unicorn, this film charts a particular adventure of Hergé’s famous
comic book creation Tintin. Young
Belgian reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys an old model ship at a market.
Straight away he is approached by two men who offer to buy the ship from him
for any price. After he declines Tintin’s ship is stolen and while tracking it
down he uncovers a mystery involving lost treasure. With the help of his
intrepid dog Snowy and a drunken Sea Captain called Haddock (Andy Serkis),
Tintin sets out to find the hidden loot and uncover the secret of the Unicorn.
I used to watch Tintin
cartoons when I was very young and though can’t remember much about them now, I
do remember enjoying them. I wish I could say the same for this film. I’d read
that the film was an adventure in the mould of Indiana Jones but I found the plot incredibly dull and predictable.
The film was saved only by some first rate animation and a typically impressive John Williams score.
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Vertigo
"Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past - someone dead - can enter and take possession of a living being?"
A Detective, John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson
(James Stewart) is chasing down a criminal over the rooftops of San Francisco when he
falls and is left hanging on a gutter. When a cop comes to his aid he falls,
leaving the Detective racked with guilt and a new found fear of heights which
brings on vertigo. After retiring from the police force he receives a call out
of the blue from an old college friend (Tom Helmore) who asks Scottie to follow
his wife who isn’t herself. Scottie follows the young woman, named Madeleine
(Kim Novak) as she drives to strange places then claims to forget ever being
there. There appears to be some sort of paranormal explanation to the
proceedings as Madeleine keeps returning to the significant places in the life
of a long dead relative of hers. Tragedy strikes at an old church which leaves
Scottie facing questions about his own sanity. Slowly he must try to bring
together the pieces of a puzzle which appears to be come from a box a few
pieces short.
I recently read that Sight
and Sound voted Vertigo as the
greatest film ever. It was a combination of this fact and my recent discovery
of Alfred Hitchcock’s films which drew me to this movie. Having now seen it I
strongly disagree with Sight and Sound’s placing
of Vertigo at number one but still
believe it is a good, but not great film.
Labels:
1958,
7/10,
Alfred Hitchcock,
Barbara Bel Geddes,
James Stewart,
Kim Novak,
Psychological,
Thriller,
Tom Helmore,
Vertigo
Tuesday 14 August 2012
The Fireman
A Fire Chief (Eric Campbell) is approached by a man (Lloyd
Bacon) who asks that the Fire Department ignores a fire at his house so that he
may collect the insurance money. The man insures that his daughter (Edna
Purviance) is out during the fire so remains unharmed. The woman is not out
though when an arsonist sets the property alight and she gets trapped upstairs.
Meanwhile the Firemen which include accident prone Charlie Chaplin are at another
house, putting out a fire. When the man realises his daughter is trapped he
searches for them, finding Chaplin who attempts to save the day and win the
woman’s heart.
Amazingly The Fireman was
Chaplin’s 52nd film but was released in June 1916. Despite his age
and lack of years in the industry he was by now a pro and it shows here with
clever gags and a nice central idea. Unfortunately the film suffers from a
similar problem as The Floorwalker in
that it just isn’t quite funny enough.
Labels:
1916,
5/10,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
Edna Purviance,
Eric Campbell,
Leo White,
Lloyd Bacon,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy,
The Fireman
Monday 13 August 2012
The Floorwalker
Charlie Chaplin’s first film for Mutual is set in a
department store. The store manager (Eric Campbell) and his assistant (Lloyd
Bacon) are trying to embezzle money from the store when a tramp (Charlie
Chaplin) enters. The tramp bears a striking resemblance to the assistant
manager and after getting caught up in his usual trouble, the two men decide to
swap clothes to avoid being caught by those who are chasing them. With the bag
of loot changing hands and an escalator both aiding and hindering their escape,
the two men attempt to get away with the shop’s takings.
Since its release close to one hundred years ago The Floorwalker has gained fame as being
the first film in history to introduce two popular and successful comedic
‘moves’. Charlie Chaplin introduced the escalator to audiences here and also
created the now much copied mirror effect whereby two characters mimic each
others moves as thought they are a mirror image of each other.
Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films
After a hugely successful but tense year making films for
The Essanay Film and Manufacturing Company, Charlie Chaplin decided to look
elsewhere when his contract came to an end. Despite several offers from larger
studios, Chaplin under the advice of his elder brother and Business Manager
Sydney signed with The Mutual Film Corporation on February 26th 1916
for a world record breaking wage of $10,000 a week plus a signing bonus of
$150,000. This was ten times his already substantial Essanay salary of $1,250
per week. The contract made Chaplin the highest earning employee in history and
also stipulated complete artistic control over his films as well as a custom
made studio. The aptly named Lone Star Studio was where Chaplin was to produce
his twelve two-reel comedies for Mutual over the next twelve months. Chaplin
later wrote in his autobiography that those twelve months were amongst the
happiest of his career.
Although Chaplin was starting fresh with Mutual he did bring
along some of his stock actors from Essanay and the likes of Leo White, John
Rand and long time leading lady Edna Purviance joined him at the studio. In
addition to these regulars Chaplin also hired a new group to work with him
during his time at Mutual. Eric Campbell, Albert Austin and Charlotte Mineau
joined a much larger group of regular actors as Chaplin’s films grew in scale.
In addition to writing, directing and starring in his films,
Chaplin also began producing his movies with Mutual and went on to produce almost
all of his subsequent films. The first three were co-written with his behind
the scenes collaborator Vincent Bryan but Chaplin maintained sole writing and
directing credit for the remaining Mutual comedies.
As with Chaplin’s Essanay films, I’ll be watching each one
and posting a review on the blog plus a link to each one below.
Labels:
1916,
1917,
Charlie Chaplin,
Charlie Chaplin at Mutual,
Short Film,
Silent,
Silent Comedy
Friday 10 August 2012
Yellow Submarine
"It's all in the mind y'know"
Yellow Submarine is
a 1968 psychedelic animated musical fantasy featuring the songs of The Beatles. The music hating Blue Meanines
attack Pepper Land , draining the countryside of colour
and turning its inhabitants into immobile statues. Only one man, Old Fred (Lance
Percival) manages to escape, doing so in a yellow submarine. He travels to
Liverpool where he enlists the help of The
Beatles to save Pepper
Land from the Blue Meanie
menace. On their journey to Pepper Land the five of them travel through several strange
seas which include The Sea of Holes, The Sea of Green and The Sea of Nothing
before making it to Pepper
Land to take on the
Meanies. All the way they are accompanied by a selection of Beatles songs which the plot ties into.
Although the film was based on the song of the same name by
Lennon & McCartney, The Beatles actually
had very little to do with the film with actors impersonating the Fab Four. The
band only appears as themselves in the brief closing scene. The slightly off
voice work adds to the cartoon feel of the film while their actual songs
provide a fantastic accompanying soundtrack.
Labels:
1968,
7/10,
Animation,
Fantasy,
George Dunning,
Musical,
The Beatles,
Yellow Submarine
Thursday 9 August 2012
Quantum of Solace
"This is about trust. You said you weren't motivated by revenge"
A direct sequel to 2006’s Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace stars Daniel Craig as British
Secret Agent James ‘007’ Bond. Following the death of someone close to him Bond
sets out to enact revenge while also uncovering a Coup d’état in Bolivia .
Enlisting the help of Bolivian Agent Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), Bond
travels the globe tracking the environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu
Amalric) who is in fact a member of the secret organisation Quantum, about
which little is known. Despite frequent calls for restraint from his boss M
(Judi Dench), Bond is unable to control his urge for revenge and ends up with
both MI5 and the CIA hot on his tail.
The fact that it’s taken me four years to watch this film
may give you some indication as to my indifference when it comes to 007. I used
to like watching the Sean Connery and Roger Moore film’s as a child and
remember enjoying the Pierce Brosnan Bond when I was growing up but there is
something about ‘modern Bond’ which I just don’t get. Nevertheless I gave this
a go and here’s what I thought…
Tuesday 7 August 2012
Ted
Police? This guy took my teddy bear!
... Hello? Hello?
Christmas 1985 and an unpopular kid called John Bennett gets
a teddy bear which he names Ted. Sad and with no friends he wishes that Ted
could talk to him and wakes up the next morning to find his wish has been granted.
Ted is a cute and friendly young bear who wants friendship and hugs. Twenty-seven
years later Ted (Seth McFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg) are sat on their sofa
smoking pot and talking about how Boston women orgasm. The two have remained
friends but appear stuck in a rut of adolescent smut and innuendo which is
getting neither of them anywhere. John’s girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) issues
John with an ultimatum – it’s her or the bear, and the two friends must figure
out if they are capable of or even safe to live apart.
I’ve been looking forward to Ted for months and it feels like ages since it was released in the
States. Now it’s finally here I can report that it fully lived up to my expectations.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Confederate States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all white people, Amen"
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if the
Southern States had won the American Civil War? Well, this film takes that idea
and runs with it. C.S.A.: The Confederate
States of America is a ninety minute feature masquerading as a History
Channel type documentary, charting a fictionalised world in which the American
Civil War was won by the South with the help of Britain
and France .
Delivered with a mixture of talking heads, re-enactments, readings, documentary
footage (real and fake) and interspersed with infomercials, just like American
television, the film charts the history of the C.S.A from its inception at the
outbreak of war in 1861 to the present day.
What you get is a sometimes interesting but often
uninspiring look at a fictionalised world which has a solid anti hate message
at its heart. I’d wanted to see the film for months as the American Civil War
is something that interests me but I won’t be recommending it to most people
unless they have a particular interest in American history or social studies.
Sunday 5 August 2012
The Red Shoes
"Why do you want to dance?"
"Why do you want to live?"
A young amateur ballerina called Victoria Page (Moira Shearer)
meets famed ballet producer Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) at a ballet after
party, impressing him enough to invite her to join his company. At breakfast
the next morning Lermontov also meets an inspiring young composer by the name
of Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and he too is invited to join the company.
The two talented youngsters begin to work their way up through the company
ranks as a romance blossoms between them. There are tough decisions to be made
however when it comes to a choice between ambition and love.
I bought The Red Shoes
of Blu-Ray about three or four years ago after hearing Martin Scorsese say it
was one of his favourite films. Now I’ve finally seen it I can see why someone
would enjoy it on an artistic and technical level but it left me feeling very
bored.
Saturday 4 August 2012
The Circus
A Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) is mistaken for a pickpocket and
chased through a circus by the police. Once in the big top he outwits the cops
and gets more laughs in doing so than the circus clowns so is offered a job by
the ringmaster (Al Ernest Garcia). On his first morning at work the tramp meets
a beautiful young dancer (Merna Kennedy) who is hungry after being punished by
the ringmaster who is also her father. The tramp falls instantly in love and
shares what little food he has. Despite being a hit with the audience the tramp
is unaware and like the dancer is mistreated by the ringmaster. No sooner does
he become self aware he begins to act with hubris, making working conditions
better for himself and his love. The tramp’s intentions are soon interrupted
however with the arrival of a handsome young tightrope walker (Harry Crocker).
Almost forgotten by Chaplin and his audience for sixty
years, more recently The Circus has
become known as one of actor/director’s defining works. Featuring some of his
best comic creations and earning points for the sheer hardship of production, The Circus is amongst Chaplin’s better
films and ranks as one of my favourites.
Labels:
10/10,
1928,
Al Ernest Garcia,
Charlie Chaplin,
Comedy,
Film,
Harry Crocker,
Marna Kennedy,
Movie,
Review,
Silent,
Silent Comedy,
Silent Film,
The Circus
Friday 3 August 2012
Shadow of a Doubt
"We're not just an uncle and a niece. It's something else"
After watching Psycho for
the first time last month and being completely blown away by its brilliance I
thought that if I’m going to call myself cineliterate then I need to be
watching more of Alfred Hitchcock’s work. While browsing my LoveFilm streaming
account I came across Shadow of a Doubt from
1943 and gave it a go. Unsurprisingly it’s very good.
Thursday 2 August 2012
Cops
One of Buster Keaton’s most iconic short films stars Keaton
as a young man going about his daily life when he inadvertently gets into
trouble with first one Cop, then another until finally the whole LAPD are
chasing him down despite him doing nothing wrong intentionally. He finds a
wallet and is accused of stealing, is conned and accidentally steals a whole
family’s furniture and unintentionally explodes a bomb at a police parade.
The resulting eighteen minutes are a thrilling chase
sequence with plenty of trademark stunts and dead pan.
Labels:
1922,
8/10,
Buster Keaton,
Comedy,
Cops,
Edward Cline,
Joe Roberts,
Short,
Short Film,
Silent Comedy,
Virginia Fox
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