Reviews
I’ve been meaning to get stuck in with some movie reviews on here, as I have had a lot of free time recently, so have taken my lecturers advice and watched as many movies as I could lay my eyes on. But… I really wanted to open with a big one, and what with Dark Knight only a few days away, and the hyperbole surrounding it, it seemed like the best place to start. So Thursday morning, I will be hitting the O2 Dome to watch The Dark Knight on the biggest screen possible (outside of IMAX), and will hopefully have the review online not too late after.
But…
In the meantime, I wouldn’t want to think that all the movies I had seen recently would go to waste, and plus I need to get some writing practice in, so I will have a quick summary of some of the films I had seen recently. Which ones are worth seeing, which ones are duff, and which ones ROCK!
Wall-E
With so much hype surrounding this film, it’s difficult to say something new that hasn’t already been said about this movie. Some are calling it Pixars greatest movie, some are calling it the film of the summer. I say, it’s great too, no surprise there. What did surprise me getting goosebumps from a frickin kids movie! You know the score, cute little Johnny 5 clone is left alone on a deserted planet Earth to tidy up the mess left by the people when they departed many moons ago, 700 years ago to be precise. There’s no dialogue for the first 20 or so mins bla bla bla…this is when the film shines… bla bla bla. The gist is, I liked it, at the time, a lot. But it’s been nearly two weeks since I saw it, and you know what… I haven’t really thought about it that much since. A great movie stays with you, the warm feeling from this movie lasted all of two days.
So in conclusion…
A great movie, a fine achievement for Pixar, definitely better than Ratatouille, but ultimately a sugar-rush which I think will prove much less short lived in our hearts than earlier offerings Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Plus my two infant nieces didn’t think it was that good, so there!
4/5
In Bruges
With great scepticism I sat down to watch this, only to find myself laughing out loud at one of the funniest movies of the year in my humble opinion. I’m no fan of Colin Farrell at the best of times, I liked Miami Vice, but probably because it was Michael Mann, but for most of the time he comes across as someone punching above their weight in Hollywood (and if the rumours about how he came to be in this position are true, it sticks in the throat even more, but I’m not about to slander anyone here by repeating said rumours). But Farrell shines in this movie, and that says something when his co-stars are Brendon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. This twisted black comedy about hit-men being sent to Bruges following a botched hit, is one of the most un-PC films I’ve seen since Borat, and that’s probably why I loved it so much. That it even got funding and made is triumph for writer/director Martin Mcdonagh. A film that features drug taking, prostitute shagging, racist midgets (sorry dwarfs) is fine in my books anyday. Colin Farrells turn as naïve hitman Ray is brilliant and shows that he should forget about epics, cop films and phone booth related movies and stick to comedies. Ralph Fiennes is great too, he deconstructs his image in a similar way to Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, and for that he deserves applause…but it’s been done before Fiennes. Its better than Potter, but still, more like this please.
So in conclusion…
A hilarious movie, genius turns from all the actors involved, nice plot with decent twists, but a slightly muddled third act. Not for everyone, but certainly to my tastes.
5/5
Gone Baby, Gone
That this film took over a year to come out in the UK is a shame, but I understand the distributors reasons to pull it following the tabloid furore around the Madeleine McCann story, no film featuring abducted children would have made it far then, especially this one where the little girls is very similar in appearance. Having said that, the two stories are very different, and this film needs to appreciated in its own right, separate from the controversy of that case. Ben Afflecks directorial debut is an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, the same writer who brought us Mystic River. The film truly belongs to Casey Affleck, who following upstaging and outperforming Brad Pitt in the recent Jesse James movie, brings a performance that is outstanding in a movie loaded with many other great actors, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. The twisting and labyrinthine plot is a wringer, and halfway through the story line appears resolved, but with an hour left to go, you know it isn’t, and what follows next is an example of a great story, with twists, surprises and a melancholic ending. Invest some time in this movie, you won’t be disappointed. I can’t wait for both Afflecks next offerings.
So in conclusion…
A great crime movie, up there with Mystic River, with fine turns Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, and an outstanding directorial debut from a man largely written off in the press following the Bennifer debacle. Bravo all round.
4/5
Short Reviews
3:10 To Yuma
Decent western remake starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, interesting story, improbable in places, but a gritty and hard boiled film about honour and justice in the wild west. Worth seeing, but only if there is nothing else on!
3/5
Zodiac
Interesting ensemble procedural, with great turns from Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. Very long, and disappointing if you like definitive outcomes in serial killer movies, but I liked it, it has a touch of rambling realism to it, they don’t always catch the bad guys in the end. Based on a true story, Fincher has found a new way to inject life into the tired serial killer genre.
4/5
Infamous
This touching little movie based around Truman Capote, and the creation of his masterpiece “In Cold Blood”. Toby Young is great as Capote and injects life and warmth into an otherwise kooky character. Strange casting in Daniel Craig as his murderer love interest, and a great turn from a dowdy Sandra Bullock, but this movie touched me, and is well worth seeking out.
4/5
King of Kong
This is how documentaries should be made. They take a seemingly harmless story about video game high scores and inject a twisting turning story with characters so full of life and vibrancy that you can understand why its being remade as a fictionalised movie in the near future. Sometimes seems a little staged, but how many documentaries aren’t just a little?
4/5
In the Shadow of the Moon
I’m a sucker for astronauts and space things, so this documentary about the men who have walked on the moon was fascinating for me, full of wonder and magic. All footage is original and there are no ‘dramatic reconstructions’ which instantly ruin any docu’s for me. Brilliant.
4/5
So…next time I will hopefully have seen the Dark Knight and you can read all about it here!
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