Garyswordz

Terrific Action Movie, 16 June 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is no cerebral or arty thriller. It is an old fashioned mix of a great story, good acting, great action and an imposing setting. Director Renny Harlin cut his teeth on big budget movies with the adequate “Die Hard 2”. But here he excels, getting the maximum out of every part of this picture to create a hugely satisfying entity.

The opening scene is like a James Bond pre-credit opener. Sly Stallone revels in the part of Gabe Walker as he reluctantly comes out of retirement to assist with a climbing rescue. The scenery is staggering and provides an awesome backdrop to a climbing accident which results in Gabe dropping a fellow climbers girlfriend to her death from a rope between two towering stacks much to the displeasure of her boyfriend. These two are then thrown together when a bank heist goes wrong and they are forced to help the criminals recover the loot which has been scattered across a mountainous landscape which Gabe is uniquely placed to assist them with.

John Lithgow does the evil as the lead criminal, with Craig Fairbrass from English Fire Station Soap “London’s Burning” pleasingly villainous as his side-kick, Delmar. Avalanches, shoot outs, white-outs, helicopter rescues and cliff-face peril thrill throughout as the baddies try to get away with their ill-gotten gains. Yes the scenes are set-pieces, and the scene in which Gabe lets his would be female rescue slip through his fingers clichéd in the way it is shot. But it doesn’t matter. Without exception the action scenes are riveting and entertaining which is surely what a good slice of cinema going should be about

Brave Black Comedy, 10 May 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

Home grown Asian suicide bombers are not an obvious choice for Comedy. But Director Chris Morris makes a surprisingly good job of it in a work which is skilfully written and performed. The best humour has a ring of truth about it. And so it is true here. The plot moves from satire, to slapstick to straight forwards storytelling, and back, at quite a pace leaving the audience to make its own mind up about whether certain bits are intended to be funny, or just turn out that way. That ambiguity is probably the film’s strongest suit.

A strong cast of Jihadists struggle to get a team together, struggle to get to a Training Camp in Pakistan from which they are sent home in disgrace, indeed they struggle to complete any task successfully. Yet they are not portrayed as buffoons. Never before has Muslim culture been lampooned like this, yet Morris shows it in such a way that they are Everyman jokes and should not cause offence to anyone.

The fact that this is low budget works to its advantage. The script and acting win and the documentary style filming gives it an authenticity which is vital for the humour to prosper. Riz Ahmed stars as Chief Jihadist Omar, but Nigel Lindsay steals the show as a Caucasian Muslim convert. Preeya Kalidas has a frustrating, underwritten role as Omar’s wife. A nurse, and a mother we never really get her insight into the prospect of her husband, and father of her son, embracing martyrdom, even though she pokes fun at an over zealous cleric when he visits their home.

At 100 minutes, the film ends when it needs to, in dramatic and compelling style and does not out stay its welcome. For some this will not be funny enough, for others it will simply be in poor taste. But we should be proud that this sort of comedy simply could not be made in America, and is the first cinematic attempt to deal with a relatively new, and disturbing, social phenomena.

Solid Entertainment, 2 May 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A solid, if unspectacular screen farewell from Humphrey Bogarde as a washed up sports writer, Eddie Willis, drawn into Boxing Match Fixing. Director Mark Robson had a fine reputation before this film in a career which was to go on to enjoy further critical success. He knows how to tell a story, and much is crammed into the running time of 1 hour and 49 minutes.

The area where the film does struggle is in what genre it is operating. It’s not really a sports film, as the focus is on match fixing. As a thriller it offers few surprises, and it scarcely scrapes over the line as a Noir. It is at it’s best as a straight forwards drama, well acted, and well told.

Bogarde was to die within 18 months of making this film, and his drawn appearance adds a poignancy to his portrayal of an out of work journalist, down on his luck. The mechanics, and dynamics, of boxing chicanery curiously are unchanged half a century later. The same story could be told now. Mike Lane plays Toro Moreno, a Latin American man mountain, who can’t fight. Rod Steiger plays Nick Benko the callous leader of the Match Fixing ring.

A few period characteristics stand out to the modern viewer. The detail of the fixing is shown almost documentary style as though it needs to be explained to the viewer. And although the callousness of the fixers is exposed, Willis gives his corrupt earnings to a beaten Moreno at the end in an act of moral atonement, evil cannot be seen to wholly triumph. And women are either briefly portrayed as good time girls, or incidental to proceedings.

I suspect that when this was first released, it was a shocking expose, to 21st Century viewers the corruption is routine. But the story is sufficiently fast paced and tight, and the acting, particularly by Bogarde sufficiently strong ,for it to still stand squarely on its own two feet now

Dead Boring, 20 April 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A deeply disappointing second feature from Ricky Gervais. As a Gervais fan, a veteran of the era, and a champion of British Films, I had high hopes for this film. They were misplaced. At the core is a lack of confidence from both Gervais and co-writer Merchant as to what the film is.

It certainly does not succeed as a comedy. Neither I, nor anyone else, laughed. It does not work as a “kitchen sink ” social drama either, the casual racism is awkward and lacks context, and the sexism is stilted. The “coming of age” theme fails. It is clichéd, hackneyed and devoid of youthful spark.

That Gervais and Merchant don’t know what to do with the story is evidenced by the fact that it feels like a long 95 minutes too, even though it is about the ideal running time for a film. As for the location, it is supposed to be 70’s Reading, it could be anywhere. It has little sense of place. The opening shot has a London Red Double Decker bus ( they were not red in Reading, but it fits for an American release) wending its way along the high street of what looks like an upmarket Oxfordshire Village, not the monochrome monotony of Reading. Some of the Council Houses have modern Upvc windows painfully evident.

The characterisation is dreadful. We have the three young musketeers. A good looking one trying to make something of himself in an Insurance company, a good looking bad boy working in a factory, and a geeky fat kid who makes everyone else laugh – but gets the girl in the end. Bearing in mind that the plot is wafer thin, if the characterisation is not strong you are in trouble. And that is what happens here.Gervais is ineffectual in his fatherly acting role, insurance hot-shot Ralph Fiennes is hopelessly miscast.

An inspired sound- track makes the 90 minutes slightly less painful, but the song selections add nothing to the film itself. The language does not feel authentic and the attitudes and social mores are more 1950’s than 1970’s. Apart from the music, deciding when this was set would be difficult. A horrible misfire.

An Atmospheric Delight, 16 April 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A solid piece of old fashioned film making by veteran fugitive Director Roman Polanski. A modern noir interpretation of the Robert Harris book, this is a cerebral, rather than visceral, thriller. A 15 certificate in the UK, although Polanski is sure it was 18………………………….

The plot is solid. A ghost writer is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister after the previous writer died in mysterious circumstances. From there the “ghost” becomes no longer the recorder of the past, he becomes a dynamic part in it. Pierce Brosnan plays ex Premier Adam Lang in a manner deliberately echoing real ex British Prime Minister. Physically there are similarities, the style is similar, and Lang is facing the threat of War Crimes resulting from his close co-operation with the Americans. Brosnan’s performance is adequate, his lurching from an English to mid- Atlantic accent is not.

Ewan McGregor stars as the ghost writer and carries the part well. The overtones of Hitchcock for his part are unmistakable as an innocent man stumbles upon events which are much larger than him. Ironically he doesn’t get the sexpot, Lang’s “personal assistant” Amelia Bly, seductively played by Kim Cattrall, but does get to bed Lang’s wife Ruth, played by Olivia Williams,whose supporting role as the suppressed wife is nicely handled.

Hand held “bucket” shots and fast editing are out. Placing the camera in the right position to let the story unfold is in with the generous running time of 128 mins giving each scene time to breathe and develop. The script is neat and witty, the prospect of a second ghost writer being killed is dismissed on the basis that “they aren’t kittens”. BMW must be pretty pleased with their product placement too as a key scene unfolds like a promotional shoot for their X5, and it’s satellite navigation system in particular.

Polanski’s legal difficulties mean that some of the American scenes are not set on location, with Lang’s island hideaway there easy to replicate. Instead the strong contrasting urban scenes are set in London. His strength as a Director has always been his ability to tell a story with atmosphere and “Ghost” is strongest on these points. No scene is wasted, the bits all fit together, and a satisfying whole is the result. A real return to form.

Retro Disaster Kitsch, 11 April 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

With Director Roland Emerich you know what you are going to get. Explosions, tidal waves, crashing buildings and catastrophe are his lingua franca. He delivers. Yet as many have pointed out, this is a deeply frustrating film. The storyline is fine, and ambitious, and there is a budget to match. The actors are solid, and the ample two and a half hour running time is more than enough to get the story told, so why the carping? In short, the story is not told well enough.

The trailers allude to Mayan prophesy of the destruction of the world in 2012, yet in the film it only just gets a mention. There is no sense of ancient foretold doom. When the world starts to “turn hot” the global meetings are little more than an excuse to provide location shots to sell the film in different countries, and a sub plot involving the state execution of whistle-blowers poised to reveal all to an unsuspecting public appears, then disappears, to little purpose.

John Cussack is a convincing hero, Danny Glover is hopelessly miscast as the American President in a horribly written role and Thandie Newton is wasted as an incidental love interest for co- hero, Chiwetel Ejiofor. Woody Harleston has a bizarre cameo as a hippy dj who knows what is going on and has the secret map that reveals all, and appears to be the sort of person to keep the kids well away from.

The action scenes themselves are tremendous, but there appears to be little holding it all together. Clunkily episodic, each scene seems riddled with cliché and seems to demand it’s own disaster sequence. The characters get insufficient time to win us over and the human interest ephemera like the hero’s daughter ‘s bed wetting are grindingly forced. Worst of all the biggest Disaster Movie Cliché of all – that the dog always survives, is alive and well.

The climax of the film is grotesquely drawn out as man-made arks are launched to save civilisation. Incredibly this causes Emerich to then go into “Poseidon Adventure” mode, in an exercise of wholly unnecessary self indulgence. Inside all of this there is a decent film waiting to get out. The discipline, a word which Emerich does not know the meaning of, of delivering a 90 to 105 minute picture would have produced a much more satisfying, and impactful result.

The end result is closest to 1950’s style world disaster / Alien movies, but without the charm.

A Rare Pacino Dud, 23 March 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A curious offering. The premise that the film’s star, a hot-shot forensic psychiatrist, Jack Gramm,is given 88 minutes to live by an unknown assassin on the end of a phone, is a good one. Pacino is a fine actor. The plot twists and turns, is fast paced, and has a dramatic conclusion as the dead ends disappear, and the “reveal” in the final act unfolds. Add in some salacious sado-masochistic sex scenes and you should have the ingredients of a “gritty” psychological thriller. But for some reason the total is considerably less than the sum of the parts.

Part of this is due to the fact that although Pacino is convincing as an experienced psychiatrist, his dyed hair isn’t, nor is his ability to womanise with females around a third of his age. Furthermore, Pacino’s strength is as an outstanding cerebral actor. Yet he slips into “action-cop” mode on a number of occasions in ways which seem out of character, and inappropriate.

Even the 88 minute premise is played around with as attempts are made upon his life within that time frame. I cannot imagine that the plot will be too popular with feminists either. The gruesome sado-masochistic sexual torture of one victim makes for uncomfortable, and explicit viewing, and the female characters around Pacino serve as little more than eye candy . At 108 minutes overall, the 88 minutes run in real time, the story only just stays within its welcome too. A sure sign that the characterisation has engaged with the audience.

The finale is dramatic, if preposterous, and the action scenes exciting enough. But ultimately this is fairly standard formulaic fare with Pacino having to work far too hard to make up for both the shortcomings of the screenplay, and the underwritten roles of those around him

A Satisfying, Beautifully Crafted Psychological Thriller, 23 March 2010

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A fine psychological thriller which sees both Director Martin Scorsese and lead actors Ben Kingsley and Leo Di Caprio on fine form. The fact that this film was released almost a year after it was finished gave rise to rumours that something was amiss with the artistic merits of this project. Those rumours were misplaced.

The plot is somewhat formulaic. Although the screenplay and direction hint broadly at what is coming next, the delivery and impact of the twists and turns is always compelling. Federal Marshall Daniels, Di Caprio,and sidekick Chuch Aule, played by Mark Ruffalo, arrive on Shutter Island , a secure psychiatric facility, to investigate the escape of a patient as storm clouds gather in the sky. Yet as his investigations advance, so questions about why he is there, what is happening at the facility and what his role is mount. Scorsese reprises his use of the weather, nature and scenery, which he skilfully exploited in his remake of Cape Fear to great effect.

Kingsley is superb as Psychiatrist Dr Cawley. His measured and assured tones perfect for the role. Even when Daniels blows up his car he simply remarks that he was “quite fond of that car”, one of the few moments of humour in what is quite a dark film. Set in 1954, and with flashbacks to both wartime, and personal , trauma, there is an air of “other worldliness” about proceedings ,which has an insidious cumulative effect of all pervading paranoia. Robbie Robertson’s foreboding score excels in supporting that discordant atmosphere.

The two hour and twenty minute running time never, drags and climaxes with a convincing and powerful final act with directing and acting talent at full throttle. All is revealed, contributing to a satisfying finale whilst still leaving a few elements of doubt. Recommended.