Garyswordz

Powerful Costume Drama, 9 February 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

The story of the six wives of Henry the Eigth is a staple of British history. Director Justin Chaswick , who cut his teeth on period drama with a TV production of “Bleak House”, makes an excellent job of converting Phillipa Gregory’s novel, in which she picks out the Boleyn girls contribution, onto the Big screen. Much of the credit for this goes to Peter Morgan whose fine screenplay confirms his status of one of the best writers of screen dialogue around at the moment.Whilst historically inaccurate in some key respects, the context is enough to provide a convincing and rewarding “faction”.

Two hours of intrigue, treachery, plotting and heartbreak focus on the efforts of the Boleyn family to do a spot of social climbing courtesy of their daughters Anne and Mary. Natalie Portman as the former, leaves Scarlett Johansson as the latter somewhat in her wake in a towering performance of froideur and ambition. Eric Bana as King Henry is absolutely convincing is his arrogant amorality, yet still allows the side of him which can be manipulated by women to shine through.

Lavish, whilst falling short of being a full blown costume drama, the story depends upon plot , rather than action, and succeeds triumphantly. The below par CGI recreations of Medieval Cityscapes are more than compensated for by a rip roaring pace to a cleverly paced tale. My only criticism is that the cerebral battle between Henry and his wife Catherine, and the visceral passion of his relationships with Anne and Mary are somewhat under drawn, presumably to give it as wide an audience as possible with a 12A rating.

However the ingredients of a King, mistresses, a scheming Court and razor sharp dialogue deliver an impressive result, which I can recommend to all.

A Moment in Time Captured, 29 January 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There is a paradox central to this film. The Frost/Nixon interviews were recorded over several hours, yet they are only remembered for a few minutes. Yet the running time of the film is around two hours, so what do you do with the rest of the film? There are two audiences to play to. The first, of whom I am one, are old enough to recall “the real thing”, and will see it as Drama AND history. Those too young will see it primarily as Drama.It is too fleeting in its treatment of Nixon to be called a Biography. As a snapshot of “those moments” it is very good. But in order to understand the significance of those moments requires a remit way beyond what the film could hope to achieve. Indeed Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” needed 3 and a quarter hours, and “All The presidents Men” needed two hours twenty minutes on Watergate alone! Inevitably it fails in this regard, and as a result much of the true drama of the occasion is lost.

The credentials of Screenplay writer, Peter Morgan, are peerless. “Last King Of Scotland”, “The Queen” and “The Other Boleyn Girl” all demonstrate an ability to write about those at the seat of power. Michael Sheen plays an impish Frost, Frank Langella is a compelling, truculent , imposing Nixon, Kevin Bacon gives an impressively restrained performance as aide Jack Brennan, and Rebecca Hall as Frost’s girlfriend Caroline Cushing has great legs.

Frost was closely involved in this project and comes out of it as clean as a whistle, portrayed as a raffish ,intelligent , go getting bon viveur, whose career defining gamble pays off. Nixon is not shown unsympathetically, but the caricature of him as a clever bully who thinks he can outwit a lightweight English Talk Show Host, and fails is too simplistic.

There are some wonderful vignettes, presumably true. Nixon asks Frost whether he had done any “Fornicating” the night before – just before they start recording, and makes a soul – baring late night call to Frost, which he subsequently fails to recall. Frost makes a gift of a pair of stylish Italian slip on shoes to Nixon as a parting gift – a style which Nixon had queried Brennan on as to whether they were “too effeminate?”.

A stylish, entertaining, erudite script, is head and shoulders above the lamentably banal fare trotted out by much of Hollywood these days. Unsurprisingly, a single writer provides a cohesion and consistency of vision which multiple screenwriters so rarely deliver. Yet ultimately it is not quite enough. As a tale about a drama, it is fine, as a drama itself it does not quite find the angle to carry it off

A Colourful, Visceral Triumph, 18 January 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

Very occasionally a film comes along which has the potential to change the face of Commercial Cinema, Slumdog Millionaire is one of them. Hollywood represents the bulk of cinematic history and is still the driving force behind it. But we live in a changing world. Politically we are seeing a resurgent Russia, and the emergence of China and India as economic super powers. Cinema is only now starting to pick up those shifts.

The American Film Industry, like its Motor Car Industry, has grown fat and lazy. Tired plots, formulaic scripts, predictable locations and a wearisome reliance on big budgets, CGI and big explosions to “deliver” have made it increasingly less interesting, and relevant, to World audiences, and I suspect to home ones too.

So here we have a film shot totally in India, mainly in Mumbai, with no Western actors, no “names”, and a substantial amount of dialogue in Hindi, sub titled into English. (You can almost hear the LA Exec writing the reject slip for the pitch, can’t you?). At first glance English Director, Danny Boyle, is not the obvious choice. But on closer inspection you consider the visual big budget feasts which were “Sunshine” and “The Beach”, the pacey drama of “A Life Less Ordinary”, the visceral grittiness of “28 Days Later” and “Trainspotting”, and the low budget/ gallows humour of “Shallow Grave” and you have the ingredients which make “Slumdog’s ” success.

Cinematically it is a joy, rich colours, beautifully shot, blaze across the screen. The locations enthral. OK the Taj Mahal is predictable, but nonetheless breathtaking, the slums a vibrant cesspit. The acting is convincing and compelling, wonderfully led by Dev Patel as Jamal Malik the eponymous hero. Heaving with brilliant cameos, watch out for the Police Inspector, his fat side kick, and the evil Orphanage “Fagin”.

It is true that Hollywood cliché may have been swapped for Bollywood cliché . But as a “cross-over trailblazer for a largely unsuspecting audience, that is forgivable ,it works. Beware that although the story does have the advertised feel-good ending, the content has the trademark Danny Boyle rawness which is frequently uncomfortable, and in one case unwatchable. But that rawness also delivers the funniest, ” shittyest” scene of the picture!

A classic “rages to riches” premise, told with style and innovation, a landmark film.

A Good Old Fashioned War Film, 14 January 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It would be easy to pick holes in this picture. Based upon a true story, it tells the tale of the Bielski brothers who flee WW Two German persecution in Belarussia to take refuge in the forests. There is so much to draw upon, that it is inevitable that some issues are shown in shorthand, some glossed over, and some ignored altogether. But as a straight forwards Action/Adventure story, it succeeds admirably.

Daniel Craig dominates the film as Tuvia Bielski and does a fine job. Stoic, rugged and with a passable local accent, he carries off portraying the dilemmas of his role as leader, and that of Action Hero, with some aplomb. Inevitably there are times when things teeter on the brink of a Sherwood forest, “Robin Hood” ,pastiche, and the tone and violin playing veer into, “Schindlers List”, territory. But the essence of events; ordinary, disparate, diverse people with a common bond as Jews being forced to flee Genocide by living a subsistence existence in the wild forests is well told.

Intriguingly, the ethics and morality of their position bedevils them in the same way that the contemporary Gaza Crisis bedevils modern day Israel. Tuvia slays the Policeman and sons who killed his family in cold blood, but opts for a survival strategy for his camp rather than that of raiding outpost. On one occasion they spare the lives of an informant and Policemen who stumble across their camp, compromising its existence rather than indulging in further slaughter. Yet later captured Germans are beaten to death by an exhausted and embittered camp.

His brother Zus leaves with some others to join Soviet Partisans to follow a more aggressive Resistance. Fascinating sub- texts are flirted with; the anti-Semitism of the Soviet Partisans themselves, the hopeless position of villagers pressed by the Germans, Partisans AND Bielski, the “forest wives” morality of the refugees versus a “no-babies” policy, the class –conflicts within the refugees themselves and the invidious position of the local Police Force.

The beautiful forest, and noble cause of the Jews creates a Romantic air about the film where on the whole heroism and good triumph, and the Nazis and their sympathisers are shot. As is customary in the genre, women are for decoration only. Gritty realism and the raw underbelly of what life must really have been like understandably take a back seat. Yet this does not diminish the tale, and taken at face value, it is a compelling 137 minutes of cinema.

A Beautiful, Thought Proving Work, 12 January 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Director Sean Penn will have been delighted by the controversy and debate this film has created. Yet its flaws are also its strengths.There are many unanswered questions- about central figure Chris McCandless’s reckless behaviour in Alaska and his handling of his relationship with his sister and family in particular.These criticisms miss the point.

Penn has created an episodic exploration of “untamed” America which need only be taken at face value. What remains are images of a great wilderness and vignettes of life’s highs, a brief chance meeting with a Danish couple in the Grand Canyon, and it’s lows, a beating by railway security.It encapsulates the loose Everyman desire to commune with the wild,discover the beauty and truth of nature, and eschew life’s materialistic trappings.No individual could possibly satisfactorily represent all those emotions, and McCandless, wonderfully played by Emile Hirsch, doesn’t.

Ultimately, it is a doomed quest. A tragedy that seeks, and attempts to illuminate, some truths about human existence. The extent to which it succeeds is down to the viewer, not the Director.Sometimes the pace is so slow that proceedings come to a graceful halt.Yet these halts serve merely as a coda, for the next meting with a stranger, and for the next sunset.

For those bored with formulaic blockbuster fare this is a welcome diversion, for others this will be a frustratingly slow and long exercise in achieving very little.You decide.

A Literate, Powerful Joy, 8 January 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A tremendous two hour journey, skilfully produced by the late Anthony Minghella and wonderfully acted by the two central characters, Michael Berg and Hannah Schmidt, played by Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet. Fiennes excels as the law student who enjoys a youthful summer romance with a bus conductress, Winslet, who subsequently is revealed as an Extermination Camp SS Guard. A compelling, moving, story is told around subject matter littered with moral bear-traps. Director David Daldrey, whose finest hour to date has been “Billy Elliot” handles the subject matter with calm authority, the screen play by David Hare, whose natural home is play writing, produces dialogue of conviction and weight, without sounding worthy or self important.

Although two hours long the plot is simple, Berg’s idyllic summer romance with Schmidt ends suddenly, and he next sees her on trial for Nazi War Crimes. The temptation to explore what makes ordinary people do bad things is resisted. Instead we have a simpler tale, of a repressed, illiterate woman, doing her best to survive herself during the war who finds herself at the furnace of evil. Her actions are neither justified, apologised for or fully explained. You make a judgement “as you see fit”, the advice offered to berg when he takes Schmidt’s financial legacy to a Holocaust survivors daughter.

The visceral power of the early sexual relationship is powerfully portrayed with David Kross playing a young Michael Berg, this, and her appreciation of having fine literature read to her dominate the opening scenes. During her trail for war crimes, Schmidt offers an ignorant innocence which condemns her. And although her subsequent self taught literacy apparently saves her, it also condemns her as well. Equally, although the cerebral berg enjoys a career as a lawyer, he too is emotionally repressed by the emotional maelstrom of that early affair from which he never recovers.

Some minor irritations are present. All the actors speak in English, barely a German word is heard, and Winslet and Fiennes effect a light cod German accent. Consequently German authenticity is somewhat compromised.Mindful of the fact that the author of the original book is German ,and it is set entirely in Germany, I think that some concessions to the local language would have been accepted by an English speaking audience.

If the screenplay is seen to favour Schmidt a little too sympathetically, a superb closing scene in which Llana Mather receives Bergs bequest more than corrects the balance. In a stunning cameo performance, actress Lens Olin, immaculately turned out in stark contrast to the wrecked and wretched Schmidt, refuses the money and informs Berg that there is “nothing” to learn from the camps. Not in an educational , but nihilistic sense. It is her that she suggests that Berg should do with the money “as he sees fit”. Itself, a metaphor for how we too should see this fine film.

Decent Fantasy Fare, 24 December 2008

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

A well told story of an imaginative novel by Cornelia Funke.Strongly cast, it runs perhaps twenty minutes long at an hour and three quarters, but never outstays its welcome. Funke creates a magical world where books come alive, characters literally leap off the page, and the major characters have to do all they can to make sure normality, and justice, are restored.

Paul Bethany as Dustfinger steals the film as the heroic/tragic character lifted out of the pages of “Inkheart” into the “real world”. Apparently author Funke insisted on Brendan Fraser as “Silvertongue”, the man who can make books come alive by narrating them.Perversely, he is the weak link, giving a strangely insipid performance alongside Bethany, Broadbent as Finolglio the author of “Inkheart”, and Helen Mirren playing a wonderful cameo as Aunt Elinor in a part which could have used more screen time.

Eliza Bennett is a convincing child lead as Meggie, Silvertongue’s daughter, and the cast of baddies looks as though it has been stolen from the cast of “Pirates of the Caribbean” extras!Interesting, and erudite, the film falls just short of classic status, mainly due to Fraser.Nonetheless,it remains a strong story, well told and will appeal to children of all ages, as well as adults who are young at heart.

A Worthy Twist on Familiar Themes, 9 December 2008

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Hollywood is justly criticised for its concentration on formulaic fare. So this commendable attempt to twist some familiar characterization and situations into unfamiliar territory is welcome indeed. Although ultimately unsure of its identity as a film, the story, Samuel Jackson, and script ,.are all well above average. The central premise is of a mixed race couple who move next door to a hardened cop – they do not get on.

But the Cop is black, the man is white and the woman black.. Director Neil Labute has a reputation as an edgy player with challenging takes on misogynist and racist views which are fully exploited as the film develops. The strength of the story is its ambiguity as none of the characters are wholly likable, or unlikeable. But this also weakens the dramatic tension at the end.

The final act is preposterous with forest fires, shoot outs and a corny wrap up, but before, it is unusually strong with a towering performance from Jackson. as Cop Abel Turner. Although “the bad guy”, his character has several redeeming features. He is a hard working widower to two teenage children, the tough thin blue line in a violent neighbourhood, and has a strong moral value set. Thus his ultimate demise is not a cause for unqualified celebration. Equally, his “opponent”, Chris Mattson played by Patrick Wilson is a weak, insipid, preppy individual whom it is difficult to “root for” as the good guy. His “wigger” taste for Black Gangsta Rap is scornfully derided by Turner , “When you wake up in the morning you will still be white”.

Mattson’s wife Lisa, has to tolerate the racial prejudice of her own black father against her white husband, and when Cop Turner needs to call upon some crack dealing muscle to deal with the Mattson’s, of course he is white! Shamelessly the story revels in challenging every racial stereotype going.

The flaws in the story are its unnecessary “big finish” and loose ends tied up conclusion and the fact that Turner is not bad enough, nor Chris Mattson good enough for us to be able to walk away feeling that justice was done