There's a scent of sweat in the air this week, an odour of testosterone floating from the man-packed cinemas, and frankly if you're not into gorgeous guys flexing their muscles or parading naked in the locker room then there may not be a choice for you this week, with even the counter programming choices seeming to accentuate heroism and grit. It's a tough competition for top choice, with a very high average score on the exciteometer (best since February) but in the end I'm plumping for Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton rippling in film of the week Warrior.
Warrior
It's underperformed in the States, I expect partly because of the image of Mixed Martial arts and the marketing not really knowing where to go but everything I hear about Gavin O'Connor's sports movie sounds great and with it's two protagonists on the cusp of becoming major stars this is probably the most exciting opportunity to see them let loose.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
Drive
Ryan Gosling movie number 1 - The art-house thriller. Directed by edgy wunderkind Nicolas Winding Refn this is both an archetype and deconstruction of the 80's action pic with Gosling as a nameless driver becoming the hero in his warped story. Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks and (oddly) West Side Story's Russ Tamblyn co-star.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Ryan Gosling movie number 2 - The touching comedy. The best reviewed Steve Carell movie for years concerns parallels the marital crisis of it's lead with the equally complex love lives of his children. Carell and Gosling are joined by Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Emma Stone.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Mademoiselle Chambon
Gallic romance between the homeschool teacher and parent that springs out of a natural closeness and shared hopes for the child in the middle. Showing it's French side is the unshocking revelation that the father's still married. That kids gonna need serious therapy.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Tucker & Dale vs Evil
Hilarious looking Sundance break-out that subverts the murderous hillbilly and innocent students cliches by simply placing the Louisiana heroes close to unspeakably unlucky accidents, each one making them appear more culpable to the partying teens.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Killer Elite
It may have the killer cast of Robert De Niro and Clive Owen but that's not enough to make this confused Jason Statham vehicle look any more bearable. Especially given the critical mauling it received at Toronto.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Soul Surfer
I'm not sure whether there's a market for overtly Christian movies here in the UK, we cinema goers tend to be a secular bunch, but if there is one then this true life story of a teenage surfer (AnnaSophia Robb) who's won't let her arm being bitten off by a shark stop her from becoming a surfing champion, thanks to her family support and faith, deserves to make the grade. Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid co-star.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Yaara O Dildaara
Bollywood picture that will, according to it's ratehr grand tagline, reinstate your faith in true love. In Punjabi.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Mausam
Also looking to pull the same crowd is this Indian-British co-production that heavily features the Royal Air Force in it's publicity and romantic subplots, everyone loves a man in uniform.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Tapes
There always seems to be one homegrown horror that sneaks into British cinemas, and this week you have the opportunity to witness through found footage (yawn) a suspected swingers party turn out to be hiding a bunch of devil worshippers. Luckily this isn't showing in Manchester.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Friday, 23 September 2011
Looking for a real man (Out this week - 23/09/11)
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
The Kids Are All Right
2010. Dir: Lisa Cholodenko. Starring: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson. ●●●●○
I wasn't planning on reviewing Lisa Cholodenko's 2010 dramedy given that I missed it at cinemas and only got hold of copy this year (making it ineligible for my own best of consideration) however I have been shamed into doing it by Tom at Reinvention following some other posts. I'm still reluctant though, so instead of a normal considered review (not that I usually consider my reviews) I'm going to rewatch The Kids Are All Right and just type whatever comes into my head whilst watching. Should be interesting. For the record I really enjoyed the relationship building the first time around, all of the performances and the writing worked for me, so it thoroughly deserves the four blobs score above, even if I wasn't blown away. So follow the jump to read up on my utterly random scribblings.
Sunday 12 June, Noon. Just started the film.
I don't like the font from the opening credits.
Effective build up of the differing neurosis of Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska, and how they relate to their parents. The early dinner sequence was nicely handled and showed a great reflection of family life.
The gay porno segment seems like it's pushing for a cheap laugh.
Nice cut to Mark Ruffalo from the Pacific Cryo Bank file, he's seriously chilled from the moment we first see him.
The locations work really well, each of the properties reflecting the characters that live there. Ruffalo puts foot in mouth again, nicely low-key comic performance. The awkwardness of the first meeting is handled exceptionally well, with expectations affecting the bonding process appropriately.
All the nice conversations get twisted so easily reflecting life, snarky off-handed comments that get taken the wrong way. More gay porn - I can see why they are using it dramatically but it seems like a short cut.
Moore and Bening work very well as a couple. Love the way they work out about the contact with the sperm donor.
More uncomfortable scenes of people eating, with silent judging going on. The how we met story is cute and comic and delightfully likely. Over the course of the movie the relationship between Moore and Bening is developing well, even before anything actually happens, as an audience we're learning more in every scene.
Nature vs. Nurture debate, as relating to kids expressions, would be more interesting if it were looked at in more detail. Seems to have been dropped from the rest of the movie.
Bening keeps pushing everyone away, possibly because she's afraid of losing everyone anyway, is she asking for the consequences. Suddenly aware my thoughts are related to foreknowledge of what's about to happen.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN
Is the attraction between Moore and Ruffalo based on a latent physical need. What does it say about Moore's sexuality, and the nature of same-sex relationships (I'm not saying I have a problem with the possibility but it's hard to imagine Cholodenko wasn't aware of the consequences of the choice).
Isn't is a massive step from being a tool to wanting to piss on a dog? Not sure I buy that logic.
Ruffalo's making me laugh again.
Interesting juxtaposition between the girls talking about sex vibes at the organic cafe and the adults arguing about Paul as an influence in an up-market restaurant. Paul's driving a wedge between all the relationships.
The way Moore treats her Mexican lackey seems inconsistent, I suppose to prove the effect the affair is having on her judgment, but more so than you would expect.
Bening just outlined her plan to go to Ruffalo's for dinner. Expectation and pride in her eyes. Superb performance.
Break up between Ruffalo and Yaya DaCosta tough and measured. She knocks it out of the park in a minor role.
Bening can't sing, but it's a brave go that works in context to the action. Moore's reactions are priceless. Bening's working it out, not sure I like the camera and sound work, seems a little showy and doesn't fit with the naturalism of the rest of the movie. That said it gives her a chance to shine, playing the micro-expressions.
Teary argument cliched but appropriate. Why were the kids outside the door, none of the fight sounded loud or confrontational. The consequences and game playing the family members are doing to try and find their allies is hilarious.
Wasikowska doles out some home truths, dramatically useful but pushed, many shorter scenes seem odd like the snippet of conversation were just shoved in in order to add momentum to the plot.
I feel sorry for Ruffalo, his character is in effect the only one to lose out from the arch of the story. Moore gets the beats in her big speech perfectly.
Indeterminable final 10 minutes of the film as Wasikowska goes to college all to make the point that family is good and essential to your well being and you will miss them when you're not with them, even when it's hard work.
1.40 pm. It's over. The music is naff. I'm off for a run. Hopefully you've enjoyed my points, even if you don't always agree with them.
Monday, 3 January 2011
2010 in Review - Best Supporting Actress
Of the categories this will, I expect, bring the most comments. Last year when I excluded a particular performance (because it hadn't come out yet) I got a number of comments asking me why. This year I have seen that performance and she wasn't my favourite - can't wait to hear what you have to say.
1. Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran in Up in the Air. Vera walks a tightrope in Jason Reitman's corporate satire, projecting an yearning behind the held together exterior and her final scene on the telephone shows an awareness of the characters strengths and weaknesses few others have matched.
2. Olivia Williams as Ruth Lang in The Ghost. There's a cat-like intensity to the role as portrayed by Olivia Williams, alternately preening over her husband an purring to induce sympathy from Ewan MacGregor's hapless ghost writer. When the final act reveal comes about you can see the tension in every movement. 
3. Mo'Nique as Mary in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. She's the villain of the year, certainly, a performance that over powers the film with dread and menace as well as a knock out monologue explaining her own private fears at the end. 
4. Julianne Moore as Charley in A Single Man. It's wildly over the top, but I think that's what makes Moore's Charley so likeable, a prototype fag-hag unable to break away from her reliance on Colin Firth's George and gripped by an unbreakable desire to win him back.
5. Marion Cotillard as Mal in Inception. It's hard to imagine a year when Marion fails to achieve a nod from me for her performances. Given she's purely a construct of Leonardo DiCaprio's fevered mind she manages to give the most consistent performance in the film, always deadly. I really want to see her as a proper femme fatale.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Julianne Moore
Happy Birthday to
Julianne Moore
50 today
It's very hard to believe this very sexy redhead has reached the half century? Julianne has done her fair share of popcorn movies however has always shown her true colours and enthusiasm in borderline arthouse work, such as her collaborations with Todd Haynes and Paul Thomas Anderson. The questions is whether she will secure her fifth Academy award nomination with The Kids are All Right.
Friday, 29 October 2010
What is Family (Out this week - 29/10/10)
Soft release week with only 6 new titles hitting screens over the weekend, and oddly only two (maybe three) are horror movies even though Hallowe'en is upon us. I fully expect one of the scarier options to take the box office champ status but the film of the week has to be Lisa Cholodenko's modern family drama The Kids are All Right.
Burke and Hare
In spite of having a stellar cast of British comedic talent, led by Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Tom Wilkinson, John Landis' horror comedy about the eponymous serial killers suppling the medical trade with cadavers looks awfully short on laughs.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Hunter
Iranian cinema continues with it's mini renaissance with this revenge drama set against the Tehran riots of 2009. When a devoted father (and part-time hunter) loses his wife and daughter in a gun battle he turns against all police in a quest for vengeance.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Involuntary
Swedish hyperlink drama which involves drunk teens on a night out, firework lighting pensioners and a coach driver who refuses to leave a layby until someone admits to damaging the upholstery. Bizarre and mesmerising - not sure what it is leading up to.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Kids are All Right
Somewhat ambiguous title (all right, not alright) indicates what sort of family drama about the children of a lesbian couple (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) who contact their sperm donating father (Mark Ruffalo). Superb performances all round and almost certain t pick up some acting nominations come Oscar time.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Saw VII 3D
And the Saw series continues with Jigsaw creating ever more bizarre methods for killing not quite innocent civilians. I still haven't watched any of these but I'm giving this a 4 blob rating as it promises to be the last.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Spiderhole
Brit horror that takes the old cliche of teenagers breaking into an abandoned house only to find a malevolent presence inside. Noe of the cast appear even slightly likeable so the killer is welcome to them.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
And in the excitement of last week I missed the following three films - none of which come close to challenging the film of the week.
Cehennam 3D
Turkey gets an early entry in the 3D horror sub-genre with this gorefest. Probably a little less scary than most Turkish comedies.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Hisss
Jennifer Lynch (daughter of David) has made another frightful mess with this US/Bollywood collaboration about a high priestess able to commune with serpents and
change her form. Seemingly partly inspired by the Sigourney Weaver Orange ad.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Jhootha Hi Sahi
Bollywood romance mainly set in a London bookshop. Has had some positive notices, even if it has nothing close to originality.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Friday, 9 April 2010
Out This Week (09/04/10)
It's quite a quiet weekend, although frankly that's a good thing - I've been so busy that I've hardly had a time to stop and think; let alone got a chance to go to the cinema this weekend. I'll be letting you know all about it on Sunday with the personal news post (and what a post it will be). Still if I was going to the cinema this weekend I'd definitely be up for Drew Barrymore's directorial debut with Whip It.
I Am Love
Tilda Swinton gets a rare chance to lead a major film, albeit clearly European arthouse in it's feel. She plays a Russian immigrant in Italy married into a loveless and wealthy family who has an affair. Doubt it ends well.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
I Know You Know
I had spoken about this film back in November, when it was originally scheduled for release, but here's a chance to ignore it again. Robert Carlyle is a distant father who's son slowly works out he's a MI5 agent. Based on a true story.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Infidel
Gifted alternative comic David Baddiel's first movie script focuses on an Muslim father who shockingly finds out not only that he was adopted but that he was born Jewish. The trailer is very funny, but I worry that the hook is enough to sustain an hour and a half.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Prince
At one point this Bollywood actioner was subtitled It's Showtime, but I very much doubt that helps explains the sci-fi tinged heist movie that the trailer indicates - nor does it explain why one of the girls on the poster doesn't just look like she's been photoshopped in, but that a cardboard cut-out of her has been photo-shopped in.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Shelter
Did anyone notice Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers making this? All of Rhys-Meyers' multiple personalities are murder victims and Moore must find out why before the credits role. Like a knock-off of Identity, then.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Whip It
If you like Roller derbys then you'll love this seventies throwback, with Ellen Page rebelling her middle class by joining the local team under the moniker Babe Ruthless. The great supporting cast includes director Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden and Juliette Lewis.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
And last week I missed:
Jawani Zindabaad
But I can't write anything about it at all as there are no reviews, trailers or plot descriptions that I can find...
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Out this week (05/03/10)
As film fans we face a common dichotomy with regards to the quality of films. On the one hand we hope for many high quality productions to entice us at the cinema, on the other there's only so much money you can spend. Which is why it's an awful shame when more that 1 decent-looking project is released in the same week. However a decision must be made on the film that most looks best, and I have chosen Ondine.
Alice in Wonderland
For a short while I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get a chance to see Tim Burton's Alice remake in the UK. Disney's headlining grabbing tousle with the major cinema chains about the release window almost meant this would have a limited UK release. Eventually the major chains bowed down under commercial pressure, so I should be poppoing out one evening next week.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Angardi Theru
The trailer for this Tamil production looks both cheaply produced and confusing. I suspect it's an unhappy love story about a couple working in an opprsive factory setting. If anyone knows better please let me know.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Atithe Tum Kab Jaoge
Hindi comedy in the vein of You, Me and Dupree where a distant relative arrives unannounced at the house of surburban couple Ajay Devgan and Konkona Sen, and then never leaves. The trailer has a whole section devoted to fart gags so don't expect this to change comedy forever.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Case 39
Renee Zellweger is a social worker whose charge turns out to be more dangerous than the family she's "saved" her from. Horror movie that's been delayed more times than I can remember and probably best avoided.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Chloe
Suspecting husband Liam Neeson of a clandestine affair Julianne Moore hires high-class prostitue Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to meet up with him and see if he goes for her knowing she's available. Sexual boundaries get pushed in Atom Egoyan's latest thriller.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Father of my Children
French film that covers twin subjects of grief and financial failure when a producer sees his latest project, along with his personal accounts crumble away. Loosely based on a true story.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Legion
My first one blob film of 2010. Congratulations. If the thought of Paul Bettany facing off against the hordes of angels send by God to wipe out humanity excites you, then I envy you completely.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●○○○○○○○○○
Motherhood
Love poem to modern motherhood with Uma Thurman in the lead role as a stay-at-home Mum in New York with adorable but quirky kids. I expect this has an audience, and the trailer looks unoffensive. Bonus points for having Jodie Foster in a cameo.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Ondine
Colin Farrell catches a Polish girl who could be on the run from smugglers, or who could be a mermaid in Neil Jordan's supernaturally tinged drama. It missed an audience at last years Toronto festival, but hopefully it will be worth spending a little time with.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
1234
Low key british film about the forming of an indie band and a tentative romance within the band's membership. It's refusal to glorify the music business (or demonise it) as well as embracing the mundanity of call centre jobs taken to finance dreams has won a lot of praise among critics. Should be qworth catching.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
The Shouting Men
Somehow Gillingham football club are drawn against premiership team Newcastle United in the FA Cup Quarter final. The result may be obvious, but this film is about the journey of a few eccentric fans. And is probably the worse for it.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
And a couple of films I missed on their 12 February release:
Eamon
Irish drama focussing on a boy with behavoural difficulties and his struggling parents during a half-term week to the beach.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Recap Ivedik 3
Third movie in popular Turkish series. Doesn't look like they're getting any better from looking at the comment pages on imdb.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
A Single Man
2009. Dir: Tom Ford. Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicolas Hoult and Jon Kortajarena. ●●●●○
I am not a student of film. Like the proverbial boor I know nothing about art, but I know what I like. Indeed it is the way a movie stirs me or causes me to think about the situations of the characters that I most like about films, and that guarantees a positive review. It is with that in mind when I say A Single Man left me cold. I appreciate it's a well made movie, stylistically and thematically stimulating but for me it comes across as an exercise in great film techniques and not as a great film.
The film follows Professor George Falconer (Colin Firth, giving an excellent low key performance) during a seemingly ordinary day. He has breakfast, goes to work, visits his bank and has dinner with his closest friend Charley (Julianne Moore). As the day progresses we become increasingly aware that Falconer intends this day to be his last, he plans to end his life because it is now empty, because his one love (Matthew Goode in flashbacks) has died and he cannot see a way forward without him; "Getting up hurts" without Jim in his life.
Luckily for director Tom Ford Firth rises to the challenge in the role. The wistful way he touches his lips in the opening scene, remembering Jim kiss is painfully real. Another stand-out is the moment when he hears of Jim's death in flashback and slowly sinks into himself. First is able to convey not only the horror of losing a loved one but also the betrayal he feels for it happening elsewhere, where he cannot attend the funeral and start to build a new life. Finally the indignation that his best friend still doesn't understand the importance of his relationship and the cry against "substitute" is a feeling I believe many of us know only too well.
Not only does the camera track Falconer, but it often reflects his state of mind, the cinematography appearing muted and fuzzy during most of the time, with occasional bursts of colour and definition co-inciding with occasions when his senses are heightened. Whilst this could be heightened by a smell or a gesture or, as often as not, by sexual arousal. The camera also focused on little details, eyes, lips in extreme close-up daring us to look for the telling details that show the characters true moods.
Not that we ever really get the chance. As this is essentially Falconer's movie all the other characters are defined purely in terms of their relationship to him, and whilst we have a clear idea of Falconer and his motives the remainder of the cast are more iffy. This does work well - if we take Nicolas Hoult's enigmatic student as en example during the number of scenes he shares with Falconer we understand clearly that the professor is curious about the boy and is stifling feelings towards him by Hoult's actions could equally be defined as callously observant or sexually precocious.
The design is generally light on detail as befits a work about grief, and naturally the costumes are all utterly gorgeous.
On the negative side I suppose I was not taken in by the central conceit. It seemed to me that Falconer was crying out in every conversation that he had that this was his last day on earth and that he wanted someone to stop that. This therefore removed the dramatic tension for me, and whilst the last minute was surprising, the five minutes beforehand were pretty well telegraphed in the movie.
There was also something self-consciously arty about the whole enterprise, the same camera tricks I spoke of earlier with the changing focuses and extreme close-ups seemed to be a case of shoving in too much style. But as I said at the beginning, I'm no artist.
Overall a very well made film, if one that I would struggle to recommend to see.
