Tag Archives: film review

Film review: Great Expectations (cert.12a)

5 Dec

Well on hearing that there was to be yet another version of the Charles Dickens book Great Expectations brought to our screens, I immediately thought, why does the world need this again when there are so many books in the world. However, the production directed by Mike Newell drew me in enough for an enjoyable evening.

This telling of the story of orphan Pip who we first meet as he encounters the terrifying escaped convict Magwitch (Ralph Fiennes)in a graveyard one day, is handled well. Fiennes plays subtly a character away from his usual middle class type.

The young Pip grows up in hardship in a life punctuated by trips to the mansion house as the enforced entertainment of the manipulative Miss Havisham and the adopted daughter Estella he secretly adores. Helena Bonham Carter gives a lighter touch to Miss Havisham than some of the more recent harsher embodiments.

Pip (Jeremy Irvine) is enabled, by a mysterious benefactor, to live a life of luxury in London when he grows up. It’s a world for him surrounded by velvet-wearing sparring glamorous youths.

Again, he encounters and falls for Estella (Holliday Grainger) who has been brought up by Miss Havisham to be cruel to men. His life is then thrown into turmoil by an unexpected visitor. Jeremy Irvine plays a pretty self-absorbed Pip who irritates a little though not necessarily a bad thing. Holliday is suitably beguiling. Newell gives us a very colourful version of this well-known story.

Tags: , , , , ,

Film review: Silver Linings Playbook, (cert.15)

23 Nov

If you’re looking for a romantic comedy that breaks a few rules, you’d find it hard to do better than the David O’Russell directed movie Silver Linings Playbook based on the novel by Matthew Quick.

After incarceration for beating up a fellow teacher for having an affair with his wife, Pat (Bradley Cooper) who has bi-polar is back in the community and living with his parents. He has an obsession with making amends and reconnecting with his ex-wife but is hampered by the restraining order that prevents him from getting in touch with her. Life is a little difficult to adjust to again with his father (Robert De Niro) also being immersed in his love of American Football.

Pat’s introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) at a dinner party. Her husband has died and she’s suffering depression. The interaction between the two who become friends is captivating as their reactions are symptomatic of their mental states. Tiffany agrees to contact his wife on his behalf if he’ll be her partner in a dance competition. Though Tiffany is falling for him, he still pines for his ex-wife.

Some knowledge of the rules of American football might help you in this movie but not understanding it doesn’t take away from being gripped by the main leads and the absorbing storyline.

Tags: , , ,

Film review: Dredd 3D (cert.18)

9 Sep

Viewing Dredd 3D as someone who has never read the 2000AD comics, I wanted to see if the plot would be magnetic enough for me. It turns out that the Pete Travis directed film was gripping from the opening scene. In Mega City One, a downtrodden city filled with criminals, the police are judge, jury and executioner. One such cop is Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and he’s given the responsibility of taking out female rookie cop and psychic Anderson (Olivia Thirlby). The new cop’s future hangs on how she copes with her first assignment. She chooses to investigate a triple homicide which turns out to be the work of Ma Ma (Lena Headey)’s ruthless gang. Though it’s hard to detect an emotional element to Dredd 3D, the lead and side-kick encourage enough fascination for me to want to root for and follow them. The 3D elements are stylish enough to create more awe than most. This was an unmistakably violent movie but the comic-book feel is reassuringly strong. This deserves a sequel. Rating: 8 out of 10.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Film review: Shame

25 Jan

http://youtu.be/arD1Hmjlqag

In director Steve McQueen’s film Shame, being a high flyer in New York doesn’t harness fulfilling relationships when you’re a sex addict. Michael Fassbender who has graced our screens in numerous films such as X-Men First Class and Haywire over the last few months, plays Brandon. His restrained and stark life revolves around meeting women for one thing only – dispassionate and emotionless sex. Caring very little for the woman he engages with is essential. He is essentially commitment phobic and to build a relationship would be to risk letting his guard down and in his eyes feel trapped. Marriage appals him and the possibility that you could be with someone for any length of time is unbelievable to him.

Into this environment steps his singer sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan), the woman whose calls he’s been deliberately avoiding and deleting. She has her own problems of wanting love and feeling needed. Her forcing herself into his life unsettles him. A desire to change is triggered when he starts to feel something for Marianne (Nicole Beharie), a woman at work. The magnanimity of the situation challenges him. Then there’s his sister who wants to cling to him further, especially after he tells her off for an affair with his boss. Brandon experiences some rock bottom moments when he even seems to be punishing himself to the extreme.

The film takes you to some bleak places through the addiction convincingly expressed through Fassbender. Carey is the best we’ve seen her so far in a role that requires so much more of her. At the end of it all, you’ll still be wondering why he turned out this way. See the film without expecting clear answers.

Tags: , , ,

Film review: The Help

24 Oct

http://youtu.be/1GYmhc8Xk8g

Director Tate Taylor’s adaptation of the best-selling novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a reminder of the conditions and struggles black people in the USA contended with during Civil Rights movement in the sixties. White graduate Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns to her southern hometown with aspirations to become a great writer. The only job she can get in town to kick her off on her aims is a job writing the housekeeping column in the local paper. She asks her friend if she can enlist the help of her housekeeper Aibileen (Viola Davis) to get the answers to problems. From there she starts to absorb the ill-treatment of the black maids just because of their colour. When Skeeter has the opportunity to be published by a mainstream publisher if she tells the stories of the maids, she takes the challenge. Aibileen writes her own accounts and gradually persuades her friend, the feisty Minny (Octavia Jackson) to also contribute. Passion at the wrong-doing the maids encounter eventually inspires contributions from more women. Viola, Octavia and Emma all give outstanding performances. The film is a tear-jerker but also make you laugh. You will become immersed in the lives of the women, the friendships and cruelty that they are subjected to. The Help is out this week.

Tags: , , , , ,

Film review: Drive

3 Oct

http://youtu.be/uE1tqMUd4R8

Moody but captivating, we are sucked right into the double-life of movie stuntman Driver (Ryan Gosling) in the film Drive. In this adaptation of a book by John Sallis, the Danish director Nicolas Refn Winding introduces us to Driver, who has no other name but moonlights as a getaway car driver when he’s not on set or working his other job as a mechanic. Driver has a five minute rule that makes him totally committed to his criminal colleagues for five minutes and then his priority is getting away no matter whether they have successfully rejoined him.

He’s a man of few words and few friends. However, he falls for neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) who lives two doors away with her son. They share a gentle love which exists mainly through shy embarrassed looks and the occasional touch of hands. Things get complicated when her husband (Oscar Isaac) returns from jail and needs help fending off criminals who want to call in protection money. In an effort to protect Irene and son from the menaces that threaten to hurt them, Driver agrees to help out on a job. From there things go wrong and Driver finds himself up against gangsters.

What makes this ultimately extremely violent film, very special, is the subtlety of two lead characters who express their love in an underplayed, shy but touching way – not all sudden love has to be aggressive. There are no over-the-top gestures or overt sexuality but just depth of feeling. It also makes the Driver’s behaviour in the latter part of the movie more compelling.

In other ways, the film is slick, tense and several violent scenes are shocking. Refn Winding picked up the best director award at the Cannes Film festival and it’s easy to see why as this movie has more unexpected dynamics than the usual gangster flick.

Tags: , , ,

Film review: The Big Picture

3 Aug

In The Big Picture, an adaption of the book by Douglas Kennedy, Paul Exben (Romain Duris) has everything – a successful career, an attractive wife Sarah (Marina Fois), two young children and a wonderful home. He’s about to be left in control of the law firm he works for by his ill boss Anne (Catherine Deneuve) when a chain of events means that he loses everything.

Paul discovers that his wife is having an affair. When he finds out who her lover is, he confronts him and ends up fleeing his life having killed him unintentionally. We’re then invited to watch Paul trying to escape his past and develop a new persona as a photographer.

This Eric Lartigau directed film hinges on how much sympathy for Paul and his plight we can muster – a very difficult challenge. His story and the fact that he’s someone you wouldn’t automatically warm to are hard to overcome. But it is a very watchable film though maybe a little too long.

Tags: , , ,

Film review: Horrible Bosses

1 Aug

http://youtu.be/mh9cG5dzs-U

Three disgruntled and boss-bullied friends take their anxiety to the extreme in the Seth Gordon directed film Horrible Bosses. Engaged dental nurse Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) is routinely the object of unwanted crude approaches by Dr Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston). Finance staffer Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) suffers under the slave-driving undermining management of Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) and chemical company employee Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) is subject to the ridiculous cocaine-fuelled direction of Bobby, the son of his much-loved late boss Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland).

Eventually all three friends agree that their horrific working days should stop and decide to end their bosses careers and lives permanently. What follows is an amusing and mishap-laden adventure to carry out their plan. Jamie Foxx gives a star turn as their murder consultant. The bosses are skilfully played, especially Kevin Spacey as Harken. Dale Arbus is the most hilarious of the employees. Go along for constant chuckles as it’s a rare comedy that keeps you laughing throughout.

Tags: ,

Film review: The Runaways

20 Sep

Back in the seventies before the global hit I Love Rock n’ Roll, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) started out in the all-girl rock band The Runaways with Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) as lead the singer. The girls were 15 with a passion for music. Managed by Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), the band, especially Cherie were encouraged to flaunt their age and sexuality to a potential fanbase to sell their growling, rebellious music.

The film follows the Runaways on tour indulging in a world of sex, drugs and of course rock and roll. Jett and Currie also fell for each other in the intense conditions they travelled in. But the lifestyle eventually took it’s toll on Cherie.

If you ever had a hankering to be a rock star, the film will reignite a little excitement. However at the end of the day, though the Twilight saga stars Stewart and Fanning kick ass you feel that Floria Sigismondi’s film based on Currie’s biography was a slight tale to bring to the screen. But it was good fun while it lasted.

Tags: , ,

Film review: Black Dynamite

19 Aug

Why did it take nearly a year for this film to reach cinemas on these shores? I knew nothing about it before my most film savvy friend suggested going to see it. Released originally around nine months ago in the US, the spoof blaxploitation picture Black Dynamite has it all – afros (tick); bushy moustaches (tick); outrageous seventies flared trouser suits accessorised with bare chests (tick) and a funky soundtrack (tick).

Supercool Black Dynamite, an ex CIA agent and Vietnam veteran is out to avenge his brother’s murder. Through a myriad of outfits, martial art fight scenes, witty dialogue and of course gorgeous women, you just know he’s going to get there. Played by Michael Jai White, you have to admire Dynamite – this man kicks ass in a very special way. You also have to love the authentic dated feel of the movie. However, my friend and I had to agree that though entertaining, there was a little something missing – maybe it was the edge to the humour that’s lacking in so many films. Despite that, there’s enough content to feel some soul and have a rollercoaster blast with Dynamite.

Tags: