It's a cracking week for film choices here in the UK, especially if by and large you don't like people. In fact there's glorious amounts of bile and wrath inviting us to our local multiplex and art-house venue, whether it's caustic writers, poisonous cults or twisted superheroes you're bound to come across some first class sociopaths. I am so happy for that.
I got my box office predictions wrong again last weekend as War Horse kept the number 1 spot whilst The Descendants galloped up to the second place, knocking my bet Monster in Paris down to fourth. This week I'm thinking that whilst Chronicle isn't in as many screens as a couple of other releases the two days previews and decent reviews will give it the top spot.
As for my top pick, I'm was torn between the more arthouse choices, however Roman Polanski has pulled together a terrific cast for Carnage and I'm going to have to reward that alone and make it film of the week.
Carnage
Yasmina Reza's caustic four hander gets the big screen treatment from one of cinema's most notorious auteurs, trapping bourgeois Manhattanites Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly in an apartment and watching the veneer of respectability peel away. Delightful.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
Young Adult
Charlize Theron bristles as the teenage fiction writer returning to her home town to snare her former beau Patrick Wilson. It also marks the return of Jason Reitman and Juno scribe Diablo Cody. Expect spot-on dialogue and great performances throughout.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Sean Durkin's highly original first feature received massive praise at last years Sundance and was heavily buzzed throughout the year for his stylistic choices and Elizabeth Olson's breakout performance. Somehow it's never caught on with audiences and didn't receive a single Oscar nod. Saying that I think we can expect fantastic things from both of them in the future.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Chronicle
Leading the rest of the pack, and by far the most compelling feature on wide release, we have this found footage superhero horror hybrid as three friends are bestowed with extraordinary powers only to discover the darker sides of their personalities. Will probably be remembered for a long time.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
If you don't like your children I suggest taking them to see this horrid looking sequel to the 2008 semi-flop Brendan Fraser kids adventure. Note that Fraser been replaced by eyebrow raise Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - not sure if that gets explained in the script - and Michael Caine gets a new house on the back of his role.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Man on a Ledge
After it's disappointing debut at US cinemas last weekend I doubt Sam Worthington's latest attempt to display leading man status will fare much better on this side of the pond, regardless of supporting Jamie Bell's bigger draw here. Ed Harris and Elizabeth banks are among the other cast you'll recognise in this plot so simple they named the pic after it actioner.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Best Laid Plans
British boxing movie that sort of uses the central relationship structure of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" although I question whether it allows itself to have the bleak ending of that masterpiece. Steven Graham plans the chancer in debt to a Nottingham crimepin, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje his mentally challenged friend forced to fight for him.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○
Jack and Jill
Finally, in the why bother to see this crap category, we have Adam Sandler's latest "comedy" where he plays annoying titular non-identical twins, no doubt learning some life lessons whilst farting and fighting in an irritating sub-slapstick way. In the trailers best (only) joke Al Pacino (along with Johnny Depp cameoing as himself) has his Oscar smashed by Jill. I suspect the Academy will want it back anyway after this dross.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Saturday, 4 February 2012
I hate to hate you, baby (Out this week - 03/02/12)
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
The Way Back
2010. Dir: Peter Weir. Starring: Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Mark Strong. ●●●●○
Peter Weir makes a very odd choice in the early stages of his latest cinematic outng. During the opening credit sequence The Way Back is dedicated to the three Gulag escapees who survived the ordeal depicted in the movie and made it to India. Admittedly when you have a story that is, however loosely, based on factual events the concept of spoilers shouldn't really exist however Weir is gambling on the film succeeding in spite of the release of tension that is a result of this announcement. It's a bold move that tells the viewer that this movie is not about the result but about the attempt, it is less important to focus on who survives but on why the protagonists are making this journey.
The plot is very simple, Jim Sturgess' Janusz has been falsely imprisoned by the Soviet Government under Stalin following his wife's testimony against him - it is inferred that she must have been tortured in order to name him however no evidence of this is seen - after a brief section in the Gulag it becomes clear that most prisoners will either not survive or will lose their sanity so he organises a break with American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), career criminal Valka (Colin Farrell) and four others. During the journey they als pick up a lone teenage girl played by Saoirse Ronan who helps the group of men to open up to each other in a way they couldn't do as fellow prisoners.
Very early on we are introduced to the hopelessness of the situation when the Prison warden explains the fences are not in themselves the wals but also are the thousand of miles of inhospitable terrain between them and civilisation. The message is clear, break out and you will not survive. Yet our ragtag group of mechanics, priests and accountants do, led by Janusz who's only one generation away from farmers.
The story telling is episodic, we follow the group from one terrain to another, icy forests, rocky escarpments, scorching deserts, with each small section ending either with the death or leaving behind of a character or a lesson learnt. All aspects of survival technique are stripped fom the telling so much so that we don't even see the method of escaping. This methodology doesn't let the movie flow as well as it should do, but it does help build the portrait of the men and reinforces the importance of why over how.
Whilst we may start the movie with the knowledge that many characters will not see the final credits that does not dim the emotions, with the first death there are fantastical images that they see, with another there's a feeling of escape. Janusz even underlines the fact that at least they die free men.
Sturgess is a subdued leading man, Janusz is almost embarassed by his status borne purely out of luck, and perhaps lacks the presence other actors may have brought to the role. The entire supprting cast are superb, Ed Harris has the biggest arc to his story - presenting a distorted mirror image to Janusz - and carries it off extremely well and Farrell is electric whenever he's on screen you can't look away. Gustaf Skarsgaard also stuck out for me as an ex-priest, his wary eyes and resigned attitude perfectly encapsulate a man who knows he has gone so far and understand what the next chapter in his life will bring.
The cinematography is as beautiful and as dramatic as you would expect from a film funded by National Geographic, and I very much doubt there's a shot in the movie that couldn't be used on the cover of the magazine.
There is an odd coda at the end which I feel doesn't work, although I can understand why it's tere dramatically and to tie up some comments and imagery from earlier in the film.
Peter Weir is a unique director in that he isn't an auteur, preferring to let the story be forefront, but at the same time you can see the mark of quality and painstaking accuracy in his movies, there's also an acceptance that the movie may be slow and that that's OK. This isn't Weir at his peak but it is still a superb movie and one that I would heartily recommend.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
20 for 2010 - Way Back
Back in more traditional territory my number 8 choice of 2010 is Peter Weir's The Way Back.
Based on the discredit memoiras of Polish solider Slavomir Rawicz this covers the escape and 6,500 km trek by a group of Soviet gulag imprisonees. Note the 7 in the picture above could be that same group of escapees. The book describes the details of his original incarceration, the escape during a harsh Siberian blizzard and then the trek south through th e Gobi desert, Tibet and the Himilayas, all the while avoiding the Russian Amry and large towns.
It seems unlikely that Mr. Rawicz actually did this journey, a recent BBC investigation has found evidence that he was released by the Russian Amry as part of a prisoner trade. That is not to say it won't be a fascinting plot line, even if the most outre elements (a pair of Yeti) are including.
Peter Weir is an excellent director who always makes beautiful and thought provoking pictures, so I'm expecting some great things from this. The cast isn't too shabby either with Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong and Colin Farrell (mmm) all with major roles.
The gulags might be a bit of a trend for 2010 as we will also get a chance to see Emily Watson going mad in one for Marleen Gorris' Within the Whirlwind.
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Ed Harris
Happy Birthday to
Ed Harris
59 today
Multi-hyphenate Harris adds a touch of gritty realism to all the projects he's involved with, thanks to his thorough and grounded performances. On his forthcoming slate of movies I'm most excited by his second collaboration with Peter Weir in The Way Back.
