After last weeks explosive start to the blockbuster season we're now taking a less studio-based version with art-house versions of action movies likely to dominate the box office, and some exciting animated and foreign language selections. It's a bit of an interesting time for Christopher Plummer fans too, but the film of the week is the thriller/fairy tale hybrid Hanna
Hanna
Joe Wright, director of high profile British costume dramas such as Atonement and Pride and Prejudice at first glance appears to be slumming it with this action thriller, however closer inspection reveals the style and substance he's brought to the film has made this project utterly unique.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
My Dog Tulip
Low-key animation based on J.R. Ackerley's autobiography about his friendship with a German Shepherd. Christopher Plummer, in his first role this week, is the central lead. Sadly this also has Lynn Redgrave's final performance.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Outside the Law
Rachid Bouchareb's second movie looking at the relationship between France and Algeria, the countries of his birth and of his heritage, however unlike Days of Glory this painful reminder of the Algerian Independence movement, and the ultra thin line between freedom fighters and terrorism, has stirred up painful memories of the period.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Water for Elephants
The second real test for proving if Robert Pattison can pull in an audience outside the Twilight franchise, although it won't take much to surpass his Remember Me. Reese Witherspoon plays the girl he falls in love with, Christoph Waltz her husband and Hal Holbrook looks back as an older version of the worst circus tragedy of all time. Expect a two hanky movie.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
13 Assassins
Takashi Miike, known for his more extreme revenge movies, takes a look at feudal Japan in this based on fact action adventure. The titular assassins volunteer together to defeat a sadistic lord in a virtual suicide mission (with over 30 minutes of continuous battle choreography in the final set piece).
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Engeyum Kadhal
Surprisingly delayed Tamil movie (first released in October 2010), possibly because it portrays a love story where the woman is in control and chasing her loved one.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Forget me Not
British independent love story set over 24 hours in the beauty and excitement of London's capital, the trailer recalls the lyricism and aimlessness of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
One Hundred Mornings
The most depressing plot synopsis this week comes from Ireland. Two couples hide in a isolated lakeside whilst society falls apart. The micro situation will undoubtedly reflect the micro.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Priest
Adapted from a graphic novel, from the same director-star collaborators Scott Charles Stewart and Paul Bettany, as last years apocalyptic Legion. Not expected to be any good. Brad Dourif and Christopher Plummer - yes this is the lesser of the options - take he money and run in supporting roles.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Something Borrowed
This looks so much like any other Kate Hudson rom-com that I honestly thought it had come out before. Ginnifer Goodwin is the ostensible lead, falling for her best friends (Hudson) fiance. Apparently not as bad as it might seem.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Friday, 6 May 2011
Did she turn out as you hoped? (Out this week - 06/05/11)
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Eye of the Tiger (Out this week - 04/02/11)
Really quiet week with only five releases, however it's still been tough choosing the top film due to the competitive nature at the top of the tree. With top Oscar nominated films vying for the title I think I've naturally imagined the two heavy hitters in the ring and with that sort of attitude it's no surprise that The Fighter is the film of the week.
The Fighter
David O. Russell has proven to be a quality director several times before (even if his methods can be questionable) but this is the first time his movies have made it to the Oscars with his true-life boxing fable.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
Rabbit Hole
Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart try to rebuild their lives following he untimely death of their four year old son, based on David Lindsay-Abaire's award winning play.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
Brighton Rock
Grahame Greene's gangster novel gets it's second big screen treatment, and unfortunately can't seem to get out of the shadow of it's 1947 counterpart. Helen Mirren and JOhn Hurt provide support to Sam Riley as Pinkie.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Little Bit of Heaven
Kate Hudson falls in love with Cancer specialist Gael Garcia Bernal as he tells her she's dying. Not sure if that sunds at all workable as a premise. Kathy Bates and Whoopi Goldberg (as an angel?) turn up in minor roles.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Sanctum
James Cameron puts his 3D producer name on the poster for this familiar looking disaster movie with a bunch of b-list actors caught in a big cave as it floods and desperately fight to escape. Trailer looks OK.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
And naturally I missed one last week:
Men on the Bridge
Three men working and waiting on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul find their lives intersecting in this slice of life European drama which uses non-professional actors.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Friday, 4 June 2010
Out this week (04/06/10)
Unbelievably, out of nowhere, this is a really exciting week. Honestly the overall standard of releases is really quite good, and I didn't see it coming. If you ignore the first film (so I list alphabetically, who can blame me) and read the rest of the post you'll find thrillers, comedies and dramas. I've been trying to second guess which film will be the box office champ and frankly I'm stumped - feel free to guess in the comments but the film of the week, and there must be a choice for film of the week, goes to The Brothers Bloom. 
Bear
As the trailer starts we're told that Grizzly bears, the largest land mammal in North America, will attack when it's territory is being invaded. Then four annoying looking late 20's start screaming and panicking. I don't think the bear just wants a cuddle.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson's follow-up to the amazing neo-noir Brick is a far less sober affair, with con-artist brothers Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo trying to pull the wool over Rachel Weisz's eyes, only to find the set-up is a little too close to believable. Also starring Rinku Kikuchi and Maximillian Schell.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Death at a Funeral
You might ask what the point of remaking the middling Frank Oz comedy from just 3 years ago is? Could it be because you can take the exact same story with a cast of African-American stars and make it more profitable? The US box office receipts may not totally agree with that but I sniggered during the trailer so that's something.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
4.3.2.1
Noel Clarke has made a couple of very successful, very respected struggling British youth movies, where the mostly male characters are surrounded by escalating violence and sink estates. Here he's trying to appeal to the ladies with four leading female protagonists, with the underwear fetishes and obligatory lesbianism in the trailer I suspect it'll be the lads that go for it in a big way.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Girl on the Train
Respected French drama about a girl who reports a fictitious anti-Semitic attack on a train and how her life is transformed. Catherine Deneuve plays her torn mother who know the truth.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Kicks
As a Liverpool football star is about to leave for Real Madrid two obsessive female fans bump into him one night and invite him home to say goodbye. There are pluses and minuses to their way of saying it. Odd timing as Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez leaves the city today - unlikely the same will happen to him.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Killer inside Me
Michael Winterbottom's latest movie may be generating headlines for the alleged misogyny and uncomfortable violence it's fair to say there are few directors who could craft such a beautiful looking movie from it's pulpy source. Casey Affleck is perfectly cast as the serial killing deputy with Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba as two of his victims.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Rajneeti
Bollywood epic surrounding a major political election (oddly I'd jump at this if it were English language) with a selection of unlikely candidates fighting for public support. Inspired by the Mahabharata, one of the major sanskrit epics of Ancient India.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
She's out of my League
Jay Baruchel, who you probably don't remember being in a bunch of films, gurns his way through this film with the tag line: How does a guy, who's a 5, keep a girl, who's a 10? How will this sell any tickets.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Shrink
Kevin Spacey, oh how we've missed you from serious films, play a celebrity psychiatrist on the verge of an emotional and physical breakdown. The trailer is stuffed with cliches, but it looks smart and pacey enough to get away with it. Celebrity cameos include Robin Williams, Robert Loggia and Saffron Burrows.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Monday, 19 April 2010
Kate Hudson
Happy Birthday to
Kate Hudson
31 today
I don't have much to say for Kate's birthday. Only that I personally was generally positive about her performance in Nine, even if most people weren't. Thank you.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Nine
2009. Dir: Rob Marshall. Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman. ●●●●○
The question I asked myself as I walked into the cinema this week was: Is Rob Marshall the saviour of musical cinema or it's destroyer. I left the cinema with the same question. I simply do not know. I deeply suspect that he is neither, and in the fullness of time he will remian merely a footnote in the history of movies. That is not to say that Nine is a bad movie, it is very enjoyable, but also strangely forgettable.
Before I go any further on this review, I'd like to point out the excellent review by TomS over on his blog. I'd advise going there if you want a slightly more positive spin on what I'm about to say.
Nine is a film adapatation of the stage musical based on Fellini's 8 ½, which is in itself essentially a rumination on writer's block within the film industry, with the lead protagonist a thinly veiled version of Fellini. Nine then follows the story of an egotistical, womanising director - Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) - struggling to create his latest masterpiece even though production is set to begin and the marketing is in full throttle.
Contini distracts himself by talking to and imagining the women in his life, and in each of whom he equates to a particular song and dance style, and so we are able to include the element of music added to the stage without arousing suspicion that it's a musical - it's all in his head. A heady reminder of the artifice of cinema and the strains of the creative process. You may remember Rob Marshall used this technique in Chicago, there it seemed original and clever, here it seems like he's stolen it from himself.
Daniel Day-Lewis does his best in the lead role, hunching his neck forward like a vulture seeking out new prey (or women), but there's little in his demeanor to indicate why women flock to him. Maybe they're awed by his talent, but as he doesn't appear to be "nice" to any of them I can't see why they'd stay around. Saying that Day-Lewis is better at the comedy than I'd suspect - he skulks around the spa furtively hiding from people like a seasoned farceur.
Of the ladies the stand-out is Marion Cotillard (she came first in my supporting actress of the year awards), as I said there she effectively gives us the impression that her love for her husband Guido is balanced by her realisation that that may not be enough. She also performs both her songs with dignity and passion.
The singing performance can only be surpassed by Fergie as the under-written Seraghina, the whore Contini remembers as a child. She has the best song (Be Italian - it was used in the trailer) and really knows how to sing to the back row, the Fosse inspired choroegraphy is also a great additoon to the song.
Some of the other ladies do not do so well - Sophia Loren was distinctly underwhelming and I was also disappointed by Penelope Cruz's mugging. Part of the fault of this is because Nine is just not that good a musical. We want either songs we can repeat the refrain endlessly or to at least be able to spot the beauty of the music outside of it's setting. Nine largely fails at both of these.
The production values also seemed inconsistent. I liked the dancing, but wished the camera would look at it more - Marshall hasn't learnt that editing is crucial to getting the audience to understand the "story" of the dance. The evocation of 1960s Italy was superb until Nicole Kidman's movie star glared at me from a film poster, her face seemingly painted by a different artist from the rest of her body. I will admit the opening and closing scenes were excellently staged and performed, as a introduction and effectively a bow from all the women and their imagined choruses.
As I said at the beginning of the review my overall impression was that I enjoyed the film, but I will soon forget it.
