To paraphrase The Sound of Music, how do you review a problem like Machete? What are you going to do? Criticise it for being stupid and over the top?
Some background. When Tartan Quarantino and Robert Rodriguez did their Grindhouse project, their objective was to make pastiches of 70s exploitation flicks. As part of this, they and some other filmmakers made some spoof trailers of other kinds of 70s exploitation flicks, including one by Robert Rodriguez called "Machete". You can see this trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R10ljA0-sHs - go ahead and watch it, I'll wait.
Now, it would appear that a sufficiently large number of people drunkenly hung on Robert Rodriguez shoulder at parties, saying "dude, you should, like, totally make that as a full length film", until he either started to think it was a good idea himself, or else thought that it was probably the best way to stop people doing that.
In any case, that's what this is, this is an utterly over the top, nonsensical film that contains pretty much every scene in that trailer. Yes, including the ones at 1.40, and 2.25. And that's the plot, such that it is. Some guys hire Machete (Danny Trejo), an ex-Federale, to assassinate a senator, but he's really there to be the fall guy so that the senator's policies on tight border controls will gain some traction. Also somewhere in the plot is Steven Seagal as a Mexican Drug Lord who's basically there to be the big bad guy to have a machete vs sword fight in the final act.
Also drifting around the plot are Jessica Alba as a good-guy immigration cop and Michelle Rodriguez as the head of a good-guy illegal immigration network.
Not that it makes a lot of difference. It's mostly an excuse for Danny Trejo to slay as many people as possible with as many bladed objects as possible. Violence is basically Itchy and Scratchy style stuff with loads of blood and dismemberment (you'll see four men decapitated with one machete blow in the pre-credit sequence.) The dialogue's funny, mostly in the hands of the bad guys, handled with idiotic aplomb by Jeff Fahey, Robert DeNiro, Don Johnson and Steven Seagal.
I suppose, ultimately, this is a joke that doesn't quite warrant an hour and 45 minutes, and certainly doesn't manage to be coherent for that long. But a lot of it is bloody amusing, and amusingly bloody.
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Sunday 28 November 2010
The American
As the film opens, we find George Clooney in a nice chalet in Sweden, drinking whiskey with an attractive lady. The two of them go on a walk, and the pair of them are set upon by a pair of assassins, a situation which only George walks away from, having pulled a gun and shot back, much to his girlfriend's surprise. Cue the credits.
After the credits have done their thing, we find that George has travelled to Italy via Germany, by train, where he gets into contact with a shadowy boss/handler person. The boss tells him to go lay low in a town in rural Italy, where he is called upon to do a job. It would seem that George is a hitman, who also seems to specialise in crafting custom made assassin's weapons. He's asked to create such an item for a woman, who he meets, and gets the spec of the gun she wants.
So, he settles in to this quiet little town, begins work on building this nice little automatic carbine rifle with a suppressor which breaks down into a briefcase. While he's there, he gets to know the local priest, strikes up a relationship with a local hooker, and begins to question the whole life he leads.
Well, I say question. That would imply there would some kind of dialogue or monologue in which he does so. Oh no. Dialogue is very thin on the ground in this film, and when you get it, it's very oblique and off the point. If you were to fast forward to a random point of the film, you would almost certainly see one of the following: George silently working on the gun. George silently mooching around the town. George silently driving somewhere. George in his apartment silently trying to get some sleep.
Alright, maybe the film's at most half composed of such scenes, but I do reckon there's a good half in which we're watching George look troubled. That's the pace. George does a lot of thinking, and we think with him, and look at the scenery with him. Which is not to say that a film composed of such longueurs can't be rewarding, but there's times when they're pretty long longueurs.
Happily, the rest of the film is pretty gripping, as we see the portrait of the killer as an eroded, paranoid, spent individual develop. It also has a good go at puncturing the mystique of the hitman; combat, when it occurs is brutal, quick, and is about shooting the other guy first, and without hesitation. There's not a lot of glamour or finesse about it, which is all to the good. Definitely more of a character study than a thriller, but as such, quite a good one.
After the credits have done their thing, we find that George has travelled to Italy via Germany, by train, where he gets into contact with a shadowy boss/handler person. The boss tells him to go lay low in a town in rural Italy, where he is called upon to do a job. It would seem that George is a hitman, who also seems to specialise in crafting custom made assassin's weapons. He's asked to create such an item for a woman, who he meets, and gets the spec of the gun she wants.
So, he settles in to this quiet little town, begins work on building this nice little automatic carbine rifle with a suppressor which breaks down into a briefcase. While he's there, he gets to know the local priest, strikes up a relationship with a local hooker, and begins to question the whole life he leads.
Well, I say question. That would imply there would some kind of dialogue or monologue in which he does so. Oh no. Dialogue is very thin on the ground in this film, and when you get it, it's very oblique and off the point. If you were to fast forward to a random point of the film, you would almost certainly see one of the following: George silently working on the gun. George silently mooching around the town. George silently driving somewhere. George in his apartment silently trying to get some sleep.
Alright, maybe the film's at most half composed of such scenes, but I do reckon there's a good half in which we're watching George look troubled. That's the pace. George does a lot of thinking, and we think with him, and look at the scenery with him. Which is not to say that a film composed of such longueurs can't be rewarding, but there's times when they're pretty long longueurs.
Happily, the rest of the film is pretty gripping, as we see the portrait of the killer as an eroded, paranoid, spent individual develop. It also has a good go at puncturing the mystique of the hitman; combat, when it occurs is brutal, quick, and is about shooting the other guy first, and without hesitation. There's not a lot of glamour or finesse about it, which is all to the good. Definitely more of a character study than a thriller, but as such, quite a good one.
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Unstoppable
Tony Scott. Denzel Washington. A train. Motorcades of police cars, some of which flip over for no adequately explained reason. So, it's The Taking Of Pelham 123 again? Well, nearly, almost, sort of.
In this instance, it's The Taking of Pelham 123, but John Travolta has been tippexed out. In his place is... an empty railway cab. The threat, then is not that the train is stationary, and the hostage taker is going to kill everyone, but that the train is moving, and the train is going to kill everybody. Because it's got a few trucks of molten phenol in there, and that's pretty inflammable and toxic. When it crashes, it's going to kill everybody nearby, and it's going to crash because it's heading for a tight curve in a town in Pennsylvania where it's going to fall off the tracks, and onto a conveniently placed fuel depot.
Obviously, this isn't everybody's favoured outcome, including Denzel Washington and Chris "James T Kirk" Pine, who are the driver and conductor of another train on the runaway train's track. After a number of abortive attempts by the train company to stop or derail the train, it's up to them to catch up to the train, and stop it. All of which gives us plenty of excuses for standard Tony Scott crashes and explosions. Denzel Washington is that guy you know from Denzel Washington movies, the brave veteran who calmly does what it takes, and Chris Pine follows suit, as the rookie who'll bravely step up to the plate. Both of them turn in charming, likeable performances, which give the film a lot of warmth.
On the one side, this film is massively, massively predictable. Really, I say to you "Tony Scott film about a runaway train, starring Denzel Washington", and what your mind just sketched out as the likely outcome of that is exactly right. On the other hand, if your mind told you that it was going to be a thrilling rollercoaster ride of stunts and derring-do then it would be exactly right too. People are going to attempt to jump onto speeding cars from trains, and onto speeding trains from cars. People are going to attempt to couple and uncouple trains, and find themselves dangling precariously. Everything you expect will be there, everything you hope for will be there. It's pretty clear what's on offer from the start, and it delivers.
One thing I really do like is that there's no real bad guy here. There's a few murky bits of corporate types making decisions to save money rather than save lives, but ultimately, it's all caused not by the usual European terrorists in black polo necks with German made submachineguns, but by a frickin' idiot who works in the train yard, who accidentally does exactly what you shouldn't do while moving a train around a train yard. Blue collar idiot causes problem, blue collar heroes save the day. And apparently, this whole thing was inspired by real events, which I'm sure were way less dramatic, and far fewer police cars mysteriously flipped over while cornering, but it's nice to know that basically, it really does happen that occasionally, you have to chase a train full of dangerous chemicals with another train.
Highly entertaining nonsense, that you won't particularly remember in a week's time, but then if you find yourself needing to remember it, don't worry. Whatever your brain makes up to fill the gap will be mostly right.
In this instance, it's The Taking of Pelham 123, but John Travolta has been tippexed out. In his place is... an empty railway cab. The threat, then is not that the train is stationary, and the hostage taker is going to kill everyone, but that the train is moving, and the train is going to kill everybody. Because it's got a few trucks of molten phenol in there, and that's pretty inflammable and toxic. When it crashes, it's going to kill everybody nearby, and it's going to crash because it's heading for a tight curve in a town in Pennsylvania where it's going to fall off the tracks, and onto a conveniently placed fuel depot.
Obviously, this isn't everybody's favoured outcome, including Denzel Washington and Chris "James T Kirk" Pine, who are the driver and conductor of another train on the runaway train's track. After a number of abortive attempts by the train company to stop or derail the train, it's up to them to catch up to the train, and stop it. All of which gives us plenty of excuses for standard Tony Scott crashes and explosions. Denzel Washington is that guy you know from Denzel Washington movies, the brave veteran who calmly does what it takes, and Chris Pine follows suit, as the rookie who'll bravely step up to the plate. Both of them turn in charming, likeable performances, which give the film a lot of warmth.
On the one side, this film is massively, massively predictable. Really, I say to you "Tony Scott film about a runaway train, starring Denzel Washington", and what your mind just sketched out as the likely outcome of that is exactly right. On the other hand, if your mind told you that it was going to be a thrilling rollercoaster ride of stunts and derring-do then it would be exactly right too. People are going to attempt to jump onto speeding cars from trains, and onto speeding trains from cars. People are going to attempt to couple and uncouple trains, and find themselves dangling precariously. Everything you expect will be there, everything you hope for will be there. It's pretty clear what's on offer from the start, and it delivers.
One thing I really do like is that there's no real bad guy here. There's a few murky bits of corporate types making decisions to save money rather than save lives, but ultimately, it's all caused not by the usual European terrorists in black polo necks with German made submachineguns, but by a frickin' idiot who works in the train yard, who accidentally does exactly what you shouldn't do while moving a train around a train yard. Blue collar idiot causes problem, blue collar heroes save the day. And apparently, this whole thing was inspired by real events, which I'm sure were way less dramatic, and far fewer police cars mysteriously flipped over while cornering, but it's nice to know that basically, it really does happen that occasionally, you have to chase a train full of dangerous chemicals with another train.
Highly entertaining nonsense, that you won't particularly remember in a week's time, but then if you find yourself needing to remember it, don't worry. Whatever your brain makes up to fill the gap will be mostly right.
London Boulevard
Bit of a modern noir crime thriller, and the plot is a bit "stop me if you've heard this one before", frankly. Colin Farrell is an gangster, or would-be ex-gangster who's just been released from prison. He's not specifically got any plan for what he is going to do with his life, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to go back inside, so intends to make a change. On his first day out of prison, life presents him with two opportunities. His mate Billy wants to bring him in on a loan sharking operation, and a chance encounter rescuing a woman from a couple of muggers leads to a job offer as a minder for Kiera Knightley, a film star who's gone into seclusion, and needs help keeping the papparazzi out of her place.
Unfortunately, Billy's boss is a patently unhinged Ray Winstone, who's one of those crime bosses who's completely unreasonable, and won't take no for an answer, and what he wants is Colin Farrell working for him. It's never been completely clear to me why you occasionally get a crime boss dead set on having the protagonist work for them, way beyond the point where it seems likely that the protagonist will willingly agree, and thus be a reliable employee, but then I suppose that if you don't get to be a crime boss if you're reasonable and willing to compromise.
Also floating around the place is David Thewliss as Kiera Knightley's manager/friend/massively drug abusing person who hangs around her house, a washed up thespian, and far and away the best turn in the film. Whatever else, every moment he's on the screen is a gem.
So, anyway, there we have the seeds of a conflict, the growing relationship between Farrell and Knightley, and the spectre of Ray Winstone threatening to go nuts and destroy everything, if only by turning Farrell back into the man he doesn't want to be anymore in order to fight him.
If the film has a weakness, it's that it has pretty patchy direction. Which is not to say that it's pedestrian, far from it. It's shot in a pretty naturalistic style. Some scenes, it turns out great. Some scenes, well, Farrell and Winstone pretty much mumble at each other and it's not clear what's being said (though to be fair, regardless of the words, the intent is never in question.) Also patchy is the cutting; Sometimes there's a quick succession of short scenes, flitting between the various protagonists, and it sometimes feels a bit haphazard and randomly assembled. This is William Monahan's first go in the chair, having been a screenwriter prior to this. So I'd say that he's got a lot of raw talent, but he needs to hone the rough edges.
But overall, despite some shortcomings in assembly, this is a pretty stylishly made crime thriller.
Unfortunately, Billy's boss is a patently unhinged Ray Winstone, who's one of those crime bosses who's completely unreasonable, and won't take no for an answer, and what he wants is Colin Farrell working for him. It's never been completely clear to me why you occasionally get a crime boss dead set on having the protagonist work for them, way beyond the point where it seems likely that the protagonist will willingly agree, and thus be a reliable employee, but then I suppose that if you don't get to be a crime boss if you're reasonable and willing to compromise.
Also floating around the place is David Thewliss as Kiera Knightley's manager/friend/massively drug abusing person who hangs around her house, a washed up thespian, and far and away the best turn in the film. Whatever else, every moment he's on the screen is a gem.
So, anyway, there we have the seeds of a conflict, the growing relationship between Farrell and Knightley, and the spectre of Ray Winstone threatening to go nuts and destroy everything, if only by turning Farrell back into the man he doesn't want to be anymore in order to fight him.
If the film has a weakness, it's that it has pretty patchy direction. Which is not to say that it's pedestrian, far from it. It's shot in a pretty naturalistic style. Some scenes, it turns out great. Some scenes, well, Farrell and Winstone pretty much mumble at each other and it's not clear what's being said (though to be fair, regardless of the words, the intent is never in question.) Also patchy is the cutting; Sometimes there's a quick succession of short scenes, flitting between the various protagonists, and it sometimes feels a bit haphazard and randomly assembled. This is William Monahan's first go in the chair, having been a screenwriter prior to this. So I'd say that he's got a lot of raw talent, but he needs to hone the rough edges.
But overall, despite some shortcomings in assembly, this is a pretty stylishly made crime thriller.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Harry Potter And The Next Installment
...because I'd feel like I was lying to you if I called this "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows", in that this really is less than half a film here. The first twenty or so minutes are pretty intense, and then the rest of it is pretty much in tents.
Anyway... plot. Hang on, I left it around here somewhere... *shuffles papers*. Ah. Here. Now. It seems that as we left our heroes at the end of Half Blood Prince (and actually, come to think of it, as we left them at the end of Order Of The Phoenix, plot runs slow in Potterland), Lord Voldermort has returned, and as with last time, pretty much the entire wizarding community is just too damned wussy to do anything about it. So our heroes are determined to do the job themselves, despite being pretty wussy themselves. I mean really guys, you're fighting a war here. You really need to start breaking out bigger guns than charms that disarm and paralyse. Really, if a murderous psychopath is intent on destroying your entire way of life, it's okay to shoot to kill. Man up, people.
So, having determined that a) Voldermort has once again dominated wizarding society and put it under a reign of terror and b) that Voldermort can only be killed by finding the however many bits of his soul he has hidden, and destroying them first, Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to b) track down the objects containing his soul, and a) Get The Fuck Out Of Dodge. And most assuredly, not necessarily in that order. So, we get to the last exciting bit for a while, where they break into the now-Nazi Ministry of Magic and nick one of the Plot Devices. They then run away, and hide in a tent in the middle of nowhere. And there the plot remains, until the end.
After that point, the plot is pretty much "How do we destroy this Plot Device?" "Dunno." "Where are the other plot devices?" "Dunno." "What shall we do next?" "Dunno."
Meanwhile, we get the odd snippet of what Big V is up to via Harry's "Being John Malkovich"-like connection to the inside of Voldermort's head, where he is clearly attempting to find *something* which will allow him to completely obliterate Harry. See guys? THIS IS HOW IT WORKS.
And so, unto the end of the film, where, what with H R and H having completely refused to come out of the bush they're hiding in, the plot sends some secondary characters in to flush them out, and the action starts up again, briefly.
So... complete waste of everyone's time? Well, not entirely. As per usual, the entire British Acting Community have turned up to do their bit, only on this occasion, there's a bit of a scarcity of lines, and so everyone's doing their best with the little they've been given. I was particularly impressed with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), who has come a long way from the stage school brat he was in Philosopher's Stone. I'm not sure if he gets a line at all in this film, and if he does, it's nothing much. He does, however, come face to face with Harry, and his face shows that he finally understands why Harry is special, and how the thing that he envied and hated Harry for all this time may actually be the thing that can save him from the thing in the world which he now fears above all else. But he still hates Harry, and is disgusted with himself for being reliant on Harry to save all their asses. It's all in there, and for my money, Felton acts more in that one scene than Radcliffe, Grint and Watson do in the overlong hour and a half the camera spends focussed on them.
That's pretty much the problem then. This film more than any other film in the franchise relies on the three principals to act like actors who can act, and give us a three handed performance that demands our attention on a sparse set. And they can't. It's not wholly their fault; it's not like this is Waiting for Godot they're being asked to perform here. There's so little meat in the script, it'd be hard for great actors to give this stuff any real welly. But at the same time, it's pretty obvious that their acting skills are pretty weak sauce too, and without all the breathless running around they usually do, they've nothing much to bring to the table.
So, see it if you've seen the rest, if you must. But I said that about the last one too, and that means I've now said it about a quarter of the films in this series.
Anyway... plot. Hang on, I left it around here somewhere... *shuffles papers*. Ah. Here. Now. It seems that as we left our heroes at the end of Half Blood Prince (and actually, come to think of it, as we left them at the end of Order Of The Phoenix, plot runs slow in Potterland), Lord Voldermort has returned, and as with last time, pretty much the entire wizarding community is just too damned wussy to do anything about it. So our heroes are determined to do the job themselves, despite being pretty wussy themselves. I mean really guys, you're fighting a war here. You really need to start breaking out bigger guns than charms that disarm and paralyse. Really, if a murderous psychopath is intent on destroying your entire way of life, it's okay to shoot to kill. Man up, people.
So, having determined that a) Voldermort has once again dominated wizarding society and put it under a reign of terror and b) that Voldermort can only be killed by finding the however many bits of his soul he has hidden, and destroying them first, Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to b) track down the objects containing his soul, and a) Get The Fuck Out Of Dodge. And most assuredly, not necessarily in that order. So, we get to the last exciting bit for a while, where they break into the now-Nazi Ministry of Magic and nick one of the Plot Devices. They then run away, and hide in a tent in the middle of nowhere. And there the plot remains, until the end.
After that point, the plot is pretty much "How do we destroy this Plot Device?" "Dunno." "Where are the other plot devices?" "Dunno." "What shall we do next?" "Dunno."
Meanwhile, we get the odd snippet of what Big V is up to via Harry's "Being John Malkovich"-like connection to the inside of Voldermort's head, where he is clearly attempting to find *something* which will allow him to completely obliterate Harry. See guys? THIS IS HOW IT WORKS.
And so, unto the end of the film, where, what with H R and H having completely refused to come out of the bush they're hiding in, the plot sends some secondary characters in to flush them out, and the action starts up again, briefly.
So... complete waste of everyone's time? Well, not entirely. As per usual, the entire British Acting Community have turned up to do their bit, only on this occasion, there's a bit of a scarcity of lines, and so everyone's doing their best with the little they've been given. I was particularly impressed with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), who has come a long way from the stage school brat he was in Philosopher's Stone. I'm not sure if he gets a line at all in this film, and if he does, it's nothing much. He does, however, come face to face with Harry, and his face shows that he finally understands why Harry is special, and how the thing that he envied and hated Harry for all this time may actually be the thing that can save him from the thing in the world which he now fears above all else. But he still hates Harry, and is disgusted with himself for being reliant on Harry to save all their asses. It's all in there, and for my money, Felton acts more in that one scene than Radcliffe, Grint and Watson do in the overlong hour and a half the camera spends focussed on them.
That's pretty much the problem then. This film more than any other film in the franchise relies on the three principals to act like actors who can act, and give us a three handed performance that demands our attention on a sparse set. And they can't. It's not wholly their fault; it's not like this is Waiting for Godot they're being asked to perform here. There's so little meat in the script, it'd be hard for great actors to give this stuff any real welly. But at the same time, it's pretty obvious that their acting skills are pretty weak sauce too, and without all the breathless running around they usually do, they've nothing much to bring to the table.
So, see it if you've seen the rest, if you must. But I said that about the last one too, and that means I've now said it about a quarter of the films in this series.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Easy A
Going to be a bit arse about face with this review, and head for the flaw in the film first, before we go any further. This film takes place in a parallel universe, such as one might find on a show like Sliders, where the Earth is just the same as our own, except for one small difference which changes everything. In this case, that difference is that the school leaving age is 22. This is a teen comedy, a tribute to John Hughes, really, about the exploits of teenagers in high school, and the youngest of the five principal actors in a teenage role is 21. The oldest is 25. And they're not particularly young looking for their age either. So it's a bit weird, really. In some ways, the characters are school-kids, but in others they're clearly functioning as adults. So. Not a film high on the realism scale. So, what is it?
It's about a nice, well behaved schoolgirl called Olive, in her final year (I hope, unless we're being asked to believe that Emma Stone is *under* 17), who, after a lie to her friend about having slept with a guy from college, gets a certain reputation. Having got this reputation, the gossip begins to get out of control, and all kinds of tales are being passed around. Before long, a gay friend of hers comes to her with a proposition. He knows that all the stories about her are just that, stories, and so wonders if he could persuade her to go along with a story that she had sex with him, thus saving him from the daily bullying and humiliation he gets because people think he's gay. She goes along with it, and the two fake a sex scene at one of those teen parties that only happen in movies, and a legend is born.
This leads to her helping out a whole bunch of guys, all of whom feel that the misery that is their high school life could be improved by having a reputation of having scored with her, and she begins doing a lot of these favours, until eventually her reputation gets to such a level that the rest of the school turns against her, and she has to find some way of getting out of the situation she's put herself in.
Overall, this is a smart, funny comedy, which benefits in a strange way from being set in this strange parallel universe. Emma Stone plays Olive as a girl who's impossibly cute, smart, funny, and all around drop dead gorgeous even for a 22 year old. You'll never meet a *17* year old this self-possessed and devastatingly witty, it's just impossible. And so long as you're OK with realism being thrown out of the window, she's therefore a screen presence who can easily command your attention for the 90 minutes required. So unless you're going to get totally unreasonable and get all "OMG THIS COMEDY IS FAR TOO FUNNY AND WITTY", you just go with the unreality of it all, and enjoy it.
Overall, it's well worth a watch, and leaves you with a big smile.
It's about a nice, well behaved schoolgirl called Olive, in her final year (I hope, unless we're being asked to believe that Emma Stone is *under* 17), who, after a lie to her friend about having slept with a guy from college, gets a certain reputation. Having got this reputation, the gossip begins to get out of control, and all kinds of tales are being passed around. Before long, a gay friend of hers comes to her with a proposition. He knows that all the stories about her are just that, stories, and so wonders if he could persuade her to go along with a story that she had sex with him, thus saving him from the daily bullying and humiliation he gets because people think he's gay. She goes along with it, and the two fake a sex scene at one of those teen parties that only happen in movies, and a legend is born.
This leads to her helping out a whole bunch of guys, all of whom feel that the misery that is their high school life could be improved by having a reputation of having scored with her, and she begins doing a lot of these favours, until eventually her reputation gets to such a level that the rest of the school turns against her, and she has to find some way of getting out of the situation she's put herself in.
Overall, this is a smart, funny comedy, which benefits in a strange way from being set in this strange parallel universe. Emma Stone plays Olive as a girl who's impossibly cute, smart, funny, and all around drop dead gorgeous even for a 22 year old. You'll never meet a *17* year old this self-possessed and devastatingly witty, it's just impossible. And so long as you're OK with realism being thrown out of the window, she's therefore a screen presence who can easily command your attention for the 90 minutes required. So unless you're going to get totally unreasonable and get all "OMG THIS COMEDY IS FAR TOO FUNNY AND WITTY", you just go with the unreality of it all, and enjoy it.
Overall, it's well worth a watch, and leaves you with a big smile.
Monday 1 November 2010
The Kids Are All Right
Seen as the second half of a double bill with RED, this serves as an object reminder of how great cinema can be. Seen individually, both of these films are marvellous examples of their respective genres, put together, they are a reminder of why I love the cinema so much, because of the pure variety of what's available, and that a medium that occasionally inflicts Sex and the City 2 on us can still be relied upon to deliver.
But on with the show. In The Kids Are All Right, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are a long established couple with two teenage kids, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 18. And since, obviously, the kids must have happened with outside assistance somewhere along the line, the kids are naturally curious to find out who their biological father is. So they contact the sperm donation agency, and are put in touch with Mark Ruffalo, their donor.
So, what we have is a very naturalistic comedy drama, in which the tensions and stresses in the established relationships are brought to light by the introduction of an interloper. Nic, played by Annette Bening, is the head of the household; she's a doctor, a bit fussy, a bit of a control freak. Jules, played by Julianne Moore, is more free and easy, sometimes resenting the control Nic exerts, but as often relying on it as the rock in her life. Mark Ruffalo is Paul, a charming, free, easygoing guy with no ties who's essentially given the shock of his life when presented with the family he'd have had if he'd had a family.
Gradually, Paul is slowly invited into ther lives, to Nic's increasing discomfort. To the kids, he's a curiosity, and a fresh perspective on life outside of the very politically correct united front their parents present them with. Jules, essentially sees in Paul the father of her kids, and there's a strange attraction there. Paul, meanwhile, sees in Jules the wife and mother he never looked for in his life before. And so tensions mount and things get complicated.
As always in a film where the story is quite small, the performances are everything. Annette Bening is brilliant, as she makes a potentially quite unlikeable and bitchy character into a flawed human being who tries hard to recognise her faults and bravely tries to accomodate changes she really doesn't watnt. Jules could be ditzy and flaky, but Julianne Moore potrays her as someone who feels before she thinks, and is very dependent on others for her own confidence. Mark Ruffalo brings an easy charm to a role which could have been quite shallow - all three of them essentially convey a depth to their characters well beyond the script, and I think there should be an Oscar in it for any one of them. More than one of them, if there's any justice.
Overall, what's really great about this film, though, is the pitfalls it avoids. Given the synopsis, this could be a really preachy, angsty, histrionic experience. Whereas it's not, it relaxed family drama, by turns funny, sad, dramatic, but never once sounding a false note. One to see even if you think it might not be your kind of thing.
But on with the show. In The Kids Are All Right, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are a long established couple with two teenage kids, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 18. And since, obviously, the kids must have happened with outside assistance somewhere along the line, the kids are naturally curious to find out who their biological father is. So they contact the sperm donation agency, and are put in touch with Mark Ruffalo, their donor.
So, what we have is a very naturalistic comedy drama, in which the tensions and stresses in the established relationships are brought to light by the introduction of an interloper. Nic, played by Annette Bening, is the head of the household; she's a doctor, a bit fussy, a bit of a control freak. Jules, played by Julianne Moore, is more free and easy, sometimes resenting the control Nic exerts, but as often relying on it as the rock in her life. Mark Ruffalo is Paul, a charming, free, easygoing guy with no ties who's essentially given the shock of his life when presented with the family he'd have had if he'd had a family.
Gradually, Paul is slowly invited into ther lives, to Nic's increasing discomfort. To the kids, he's a curiosity, and a fresh perspective on life outside of the very politically correct united front their parents present them with. Jules, essentially sees in Paul the father of her kids, and there's a strange attraction there. Paul, meanwhile, sees in Jules the wife and mother he never looked for in his life before. And so tensions mount and things get complicated.
As always in a film where the story is quite small, the performances are everything. Annette Bening is brilliant, as she makes a potentially quite unlikeable and bitchy character into a flawed human being who tries hard to recognise her faults and bravely tries to accomodate changes she really doesn't watnt. Jules could be ditzy and flaky, but Julianne Moore potrays her as someone who feels before she thinks, and is very dependent on others for her own confidence. Mark Ruffalo brings an easy charm to a role which could have been quite shallow - all three of them essentially convey a depth to their characters well beyond the script, and I think there should be an Oscar in it for any one of them. More than one of them, if there's any justice.
Overall, what's really great about this film, though, is the pitfalls it avoids. Given the synopsis, this could be a really preachy, angsty, histrionic experience. Whereas it's not, it relaxed family drama, by turns funny, sad, dramatic, but never once sounding a false note. One to see even if you think it might not be your kind of thing.
RED
When Bruce Willis was asked to cameo in The Expendables, he must have had a hard time keeping a straight face. Because at that point he must have known that he was already involved in a movie that was doing everything So Very Right where Stallone was doing it So Very Wrong.
So, Bruce plays Paul Moses, CIA Blackops Badass (retired). He's retired to suburban Ohio, and basically lives out his days flirting over the phone with the girl who manages his pension (Mary Louise Parker). Unfortunately for him, something he did many years ago has suddenly become relevant again, and a hit squad is sent to his house to kill him. This does not go well for them.
Realising he is marked for death, and figuring that they may use his relationship with Mary Louise Parker against him, he rolls up to her place, and kidnaps her, and goes on the run. Eventually, she is convinced that he's not actually just a crazy stalker, and people are actually after her, so the two team up to work out who's doing this, and why. On the way they collect a band of ex-spooks who Bruce used to work with, including Morgan Freeman as Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich as a comedy version of they guy he played in In The Line of Fire, and Helen Mirren as MI6's top sniper. (Many reviews have stated that Helen Mirren With A Sniper Rifle is reason enough to see this film. I cannot disagree.) Also in the mix are Brian Cox as a Russian Agent of Bruce's acquaintance, Richard Dreyfuss as a dodgy arms dealer and Karl Urban as the CIA's current best Blackops Badass, assigned to clean up the situation.
Now, if you look at the above list, you'll see they have one thing in common; actors who aren't necessarily primarily known for comedy, but who have great comic timing. And that's what the film's like. It's not primarily a comedy, it's an action movie, but while it's not dishing out the thrills, spills and explosions, there's plenty of highly amusing interplay. There's not a bit of it where there's not something happening to entertain you. I want to particularly namecheck Karl Urban on that, since it's a bit lower key for him. He basically spends the whole film, one misstep or misdirection behind Bruce, and there's a kind of quiet pained slapstick to him.
Downsides? Well, it's not Ibsen. If you've read the original graphic novel, you'll notice that the themes involving the morality of covert operations are completely absent. In the book, Paul Moses is a man tortured by the memory of the terrible, terrible things that he did for his country, and who has been targeted for death as much as anything because the newly appointed head of the CIA has learned what he did, and can't bear to let him live unpunished. And in adaptation, Moses has gone from being a horror of the cold war era who killed thousands, perhaps even both JFK and Martin Luther King, to being this sweet cuddly guy who killed terrorists, destabilised rogue states, and basically seemed to have done only Good Deeds. In fact, we're presented with four main characters who are blackops operatives with hardly a stain on their characters. So you know we're firmly in fantasy land here.
Still, with that said, and understanding that there is no objective in this film but to amuse and entertain, this is two hours of highly amusing entertainment.
So, Bruce plays Paul Moses, CIA Blackops Badass (retired). He's retired to suburban Ohio, and basically lives out his days flirting over the phone with the girl who manages his pension (Mary Louise Parker). Unfortunately for him, something he did many years ago has suddenly become relevant again, and a hit squad is sent to his house to kill him. This does not go well for them.
Realising he is marked for death, and figuring that they may use his relationship with Mary Louise Parker against him, he rolls up to her place, and kidnaps her, and goes on the run. Eventually, she is convinced that he's not actually just a crazy stalker, and people are actually after her, so the two team up to work out who's doing this, and why. On the way they collect a band of ex-spooks who Bruce used to work with, including Morgan Freeman as Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich as a comedy version of they guy he played in In The Line of Fire, and Helen Mirren as MI6's top sniper. (Many reviews have stated that Helen Mirren With A Sniper Rifle is reason enough to see this film. I cannot disagree.) Also in the mix are Brian Cox as a Russian Agent of Bruce's acquaintance, Richard Dreyfuss as a dodgy arms dealer and Karl Urban as the CIA's current best Blackops Badass, assigned to clean up the situation.
Now, if you look at the above list, you'll see they have one thing in common; actors who aren't necessarily primarily known for comedy, but who have great comic timing. And that's what the film's like. It's not primarily a comedy, it's an action movie, but while it's not dishing out the thrills, spills and explosions, there's plenty of highly amusing interplay. There's not a bit of it where there's not something happening to entertain you. I want to particularly namecheck Karl Urban on that, since it's a bit lower key for him. He basically spends the whole film, one misstep or misdirection behind Bruce, and there's a kind of quiet pained slapstick to him.
Downsides? Well, it's not Ibsen. If you've read the original graphic novel, you'll notice that the themes involving the morality of covert operations are completely absent. In the book, Paul Moses is a man tortured by the memory of the terrible, terrible things that he did for his country, and who has been targeted for death as much as anything because the newly appointed head of the CIA has learned what he did, and can't bear to let him live unpunished. And in adaptation, Moses has gone from being a horror of the cold war era who killed thousands, perhaps even both JFK and Martin Luther King, to being this sweet cuddly guy who killed terrorists, destabilised rogue states, and basically seemed to have done only Good Deeds. In fact, we're presented with four main characters who are blackops operatives with hardly a stain on their characters. So you know we're firmly in fantasy land here.
Still, with that said, and understanding that there is no objective in this film but to amuse and entertain, this is two hours of highly amusing entertainment.
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