Whilst most bloggers have been focused on the late summer film festivals (Venice, Telluride and Toronto) eager to identify some late entry awards bait or future cult viewing I have been playing the long game. Yes, we're back again for a monthly look at the latest cinematic treats slipping into production and you never know some of these projects could end up being Oscar players in 2014. I don't necessary expect them all to be future winners, or even good, or even get made at all, but that's all part of the fun of reading IMDb and here's what I found this month.
Crazy for the Storm
Sean Penn is back behind the camera with Norman Ollestad's survival memoir, and if the central storyline of a young protagonist forced to struggle in extreme weather conditions before finding his way back to civilisation sounds a little similar to Into the Wild but in reverse then you're not too far off.
Where Emile Hirsch's Christopher McCandless deliberately put himself in extreme situations to test his resilience and paid the ultimate sacrifice, Ollestad was orphaned in a horrific plane crash on the side of a mountain and had to forge his way out of danger, aged just 11. The book cover, below, and it's simple inscription, explains it all.
We know Penn has an incredibly feel for capturing the beauty and danger of the natural world and, with Josh Brolin signing up to play Norman's FBI father, expect this to be a well acted mood-piece that highlights man's fragility and place in the natural order.
Read on for criminals in wheelchairs, dreams of Fellini, patricide, the secrets of the universe and a potential manic pixie girl. Go on, read on, what are you waiting or?
Bandits manchots
There was a time when Jean-Paul Belmondo was the face of French cinema, his weathered features and mysterious style saw in cast in iconic roles for Godard, Truffaut and Lautner. It's was a shock to many when the once virile star suffered a debilitating stroke in 2010, however even without the use of one arm and one leg Jean-Paul is determined to keep on working, taking the lead role in the French farce about geriatric fugitives. Oddly this film is also planned as the first of a trilogy linked by a single sequence in the middle.
Elsa & Fred
Shirley Maclaine may be lording it up over at "Downton Abbey" at the moment, but it's a casual fling not a permanent residency as she's already planning her next cinematic outing. The remake of Marcos Carnevale's Argentinian hit, also called Elsa & Fred (see poster, right), will see Maclaine as a lonely dreamer, obsessed with Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' and her widower neighbour who's life she turns around. As The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has proven this year there's is a significant market for films focussing on older characters and this elderly romcom has plenty of potential to be a mid market hit.
In God We Trust
There are two films that don't seem to be limiting themselves to a standard narrative, and this is the one that doesn't feature Terry Gilliam. Described as a "thriller about stealing a country, manipulating money but also about the desire to kill your parents" this seems more like a therapy session than a movie. It does sound strangely enticing, although when you break it down it could just be a coup in a royal family, not that imagining Prince Harry usurping the throne wouldn't be incredible.
Zero Theorem
On to Terry who's latest project sounds as barmy as you'd expect. Penned by first time script-writer Pat Rushin and starring Christoph Waltz as a computer hacker trying to solve the mysteries of the universe whilst being watched by a bureaucratic all-knowing Government agency, Theorem seems to borrow elements from Gilliam's finest hours, including Brazil's politics and embattled hero (left) and 12 Monkeys sci-fi leanings. It's also set almost exclusively in one location - a burned out chapel - so look out for the most astounding and detailed production design.
Untitled Cameron Crowe Project that might be Deep Tiki
Finally Almost Famous director Crowe looks like he's resurrecting his 2008 project that quietly disappeared in spite of attracting Reese Witherspoon and Ben Stiller to the script. Set in Hawaii and involving a disgraced weapons expert (really?) discovering himself against a back-drop of discovering the islands culture and politics. Emma Stone has replaced Reese as the local girl the hero falls for, but no word on the male lead as yet. You never know Crowe might even mix things up and swap the genders... 
Emma made her name with quirky high-school comedy with literary roots Easy A, pictured, and is building quite a fan base with her obvious leading lady appeal and smart choices.
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Wild and Windy weather (Film News - August 2012)
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Anna Karenina
2012. Dir: Joe Wright. Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander. ●●●●○
We are now approximately 70% of the way through the 2012 and it is inevitable that a number of the Academy Award players have already seen the inside of cinemas. Whether it's the spectacular effects sequences of The Avengers or the surprisingly strong performances of Magic Mike there are some films that get namechecked during the awards season. But over the last few weeks we have seen the passing of the Venice and Telluride festivals whilst Toronto is in full swing so the floodgates can now open. Every movie that opens in the Auntumnal months will be judged as a possible contender and it's safe to say that Joe Wright's Anna Karenina has become the first must-see of the season, and whilst I doubt whether it can win any of the big prizes (the style and setting may put off as many voters as it pulls in) it will certainly be a major part of the conversation.
I won't spend a great deal of time describing the plot of Leo Tolstoy's 150 year old classic, venerated by literary circles and adapted to the screen on dozen's of occasions, except to reiterate Tolstoy's counterpoints two romances. The first passionate, uncontrolled, destructive between the unhappy heroine Anna (Keira Knightley) and dashing cavalry officer Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), whilst the second is more sedate, slower to build by made of firm foundations involving Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) and Kitty (Alicia Vikander). These courtships are inexorably linked, both in terms of their shared histories (Kitty holds a candle for Vronsky as the novels start) and thematically.
Tom Stoppard wisely realizes the importance of Levin's story and retains it (many film versions do not, hardly surprising that a 900 page novel needs some cuts to make it to the big screen) so we shift between the two pairs of lovers, and as one affair blossoms the other appears to wither. Stoppard rattles through the early plot developments, aided by Joe Wright audacious move to film almost entirely within a theatre, using the stage, auditorium, wings and fly rails to signify different aspects of Russian society and allowing scenes to flow into each other with sets, props and extras moving in and out of the setting. It's is incredible to behold, one moment Matthew Macfadyen (having a ball as incorrigible womaniser Oblonsky) is marching through his factory of paperwork stamping drones then a flurry and long pan later we're at dinner with Levin, diligently eating the diet of the peasant classes then suddenly we're at the Shcherbatskaya's watching society function.
The staging works to reinforce the artificiality of Imperial Russian aristocracy, the lives of the elite are constantly on display to each other, every gesture and action judged by the gawping onlookers, every reaction magnified grotesquely. Wright uses a number of cinematic and theatrical tricks, including choreography, perspective and Dario Marianelli's sumptuous score to guide the audience's emotional response, the ball scene where Anna and Vronsky first meet is electric, the horse race heart-stopping and Anna's final visit to the train station unexpectedly tense.
The only times we leave the theatre (apart from an ill-judged picnic scene between Anna and Vronky) is to Levin's country estate, far from the view of the baying crowd. It's a more simple world, where chickens grace his dining room not immaculate tableware and the expansive Russian countryside is gorgeously shot by Seamus McGarvey.
Keira Knightly is just the right side of virtuous for Anna, cleverly showing her all-consuming passion and her third act descent is devastating and acute. Jude Law meanwhile retains a dignity as cuckold Karenin, his actions, from the misjudged forgiveness of Anna to him banishing the mother from son seem both cold yet believable actions, it's a testament to Law's performance in that even when you disagree with his actions you understand his motivation. Gleeson and Vikander also make a cute pair, and I look forward to seeing them over the next few years as their careers develop.
It's a shame the production loses steam once Anna leaves Karenin, as the story slows down and Anna's jealousies and suspicions tangle with societies rejection of her lifestyle there is some interesting stylistic work highlighting the production design and portentous use of mirrors, but it simply cannot compete with the innovations of the first half and somewhat sags in comparison.
That said this is a near masterpiece and the first film of the 2012 awards season that must be seen. I highly recommend it to all movie goers.
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Choosing the best medium (Out this week - 07/09/12)
I am acutely aware I am late posting, I simply got caught up with other stuff yesterday and didn't have the opportunity to look through this week's releases, which is a shame as from the outside it looks likes a vital and exciting week with fascinating costume dramas from the 20th and 19th centuries as well as a independent comic book feature and a semi-return to form from a much maligned comedian. Not that my choice of film of the week can come as a surprise to anyone, it looks utterly gorgeous, features incredible artistic choices and comes from one of the most exciting British directors working today. The RLAG film of the week is Anna Karenina.
Last weekend Total Recall did indeed smash it's way to the top with the additional 5 days of previews for The Watch proving utterly fruitless when it arrived DOA. This weekend is a bit of a dilemma. Amazingly Anna Karenina has the largest opening with 419 cinemas, and there's certinaly plenty of fanboy hype for Dredd but I think Lawless with it's rising star cast and effective and ubiquitous marketing presence will take the top spot.
Anna Karenina
Joe Wright apparently decided to film Tolstoy's epic love story(s) in a theatre for budgetary reasons however just watching the trailer and reading the reviews proves this was a profound and vital choice underlining the themes of society as show and the formality of the rules of Russian etiquette.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
That has to be one of the most gorgeously presented trailers of the year, making the film a must-see experience.
Lawless
John Hillcoat directs from Nick Cave's screenplay in a return to the partnership that created the superb Aussie Western The Proposition and if this country gangster pic doesn't quite hit those dizzy heights there's no shame in that. Tom Hardy and Shia Labeouf are the stars likely to bring in the punters, ably supported by eyebrow-challenged Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain and Gary Oldman.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
That's My Boy
OK, I accept in theory the injustice of a Adam Sandler movie getting 4 blobs, effectively meaning it could have been film of the week on at least one occasion. Furthermore the trailer in no way makes me want to see this movie. However the reviews on this side of the pond has talked about how the loser father plot is closer to the on the knuckle Sandler movies of his early career and less like the crap he's recently been making and that should be applauded. Plus Susan Sarandon and James Caan have minor roles and they're always worth watching.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Debbe: Mir cin Vakasi
Turkish found footage horror movie with some arresting images, and suitably wide eyed acting, but lets be honest it looks like a rip of hundreds of other found footage horrors. Did anyone else think of Paranormal Activity watching this trailer?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Dredd
The ultra-violent comic book finally gets the adaptation it deserves with Karl Urban wearing on the iconic mask (and not taking it off) and Lena Headley as the "slow-mo" drug pushing big bad. It's a shame the plot device of taking out a tower block seems so similar to the martial arts classic The Raid but them's the breaks.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Love
Poetic looking sci-fi indie in the vein of 2001 or Solaris that probably deserves a much bigger audience than it's going to get. Gunner Wright is the astronaut isolated on Space Station Mir slowly questioning his sanity in William Eubank's debut film, marking him as a talent to watch.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Night in the Woods
Talking about found footage horror knockoffs does this British flick, starring rising star Scoot McNairy and a couple of other disposable 20 somethings as they frolic adulterously around Dartmoor before a mysterious hunter comes after them resemble a certain Blair witch to you?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Raaz 3: The Third Dimension
The third installement in this popular Hindi horror franchise which uses the odd connection of possessed women to link the films. It doesn't have a massive opening but it should do please the faithful.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Tabu
Portuguese movie that sits firmly within the arthouse bracket with two seemingly unconnected storylines about a devout woman in modern Lisbon and a pop band covering the Everly Brothers in 1960's Mozambique. It won the FIPRESCI prize at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival for it's imaginative and unique contribution to cinematic art.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
When Pigs have Wings
Random comedy about a struggling fisherman who's life takes a turn for the bizarre when he finds a live pig in his net. With gross-out humour played against real-world religious and political strife this looks like a fascinating project.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Ajj de Ranjhe
Punjabi film that supposedly satirises the relationship between the police and the youth of modern cities. Still it's a pretty cast and probably involves a few nice tunes.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
St. Georges Day
I'm not sure I completely understand the marketing strategy that sees this date specific London gangster flick opening 5 months off from the feats day it's named after but given it's unimaginative plot revolves around football hooliganism, one last heist and strip joints I'm guessing they were happy to see the inside of a cinema.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Saturday, 1 September 2012
You won't believe your ears (Out this week - 31/08/12)
I'm making it official. This is the worst weekend of the year so far, filled with dull unimaginative studio fodder and below average foreign language imports. If it wasn't for British independent cinema I'd probably write a stern letter of complaint. Perhaps even more bizarrely I'm plumping for an inverse horror movie as the top pick, anyone taking up my recommendation will have the opportunity to watch Toby Jones watch a grisly Giallo movie whilst cutting up vegetables, sounds odd but the trailer is deliciously suspenseful. The runs like a gay film of the week is Berberian Sound Studio.
Last week I massively overestimated the popularity of TV celebrity character Keith Lemmon and failed to take into account the largely absent reviews and bus-side advertising. It didn't flop like a fat man on a diving board achieving the highest gross for a newly released movie, but it did struggle to make much of an impact on the top ten, with Pixar's Brave still at the top of the charts. This weekend I suspect Total Recall will just about manage to scrape it's way to the top, but I won't be surprised if The Watch pips it to the post.
Berberian Sound Studio
Toby Jones, whose probably the most underutilised Great British actor working today, gets a moment in the sunshine (or is that moonlight) in this spooky British thriller about a stuffy foley artist creating the sound effects and ADR work on an Italian splatter fest. You don't see the film, but you do see the affect it has on poor Toby's sanity and the odd watermelon.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Read on for forgotten moments, a classic genre mash-up and two Alien comedies as well as all the trailers for this weeks releases.
It's certainly cut like a horror movie, well worth the journey to see it.
Cockneys vs Zombies
Clearly the most bonkers film of the week is this Brit horror comedy about a group of East End caricatures and the residents of a Nursing home taking on the undead. I laughed at Richard Briers outrunning a zombie on a zimmerframe so there's certainly potential here.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Joker
So if you watch just one inter-galactic comedy this weekend it should probably be this Hindi movie starring superstar Akshay Kumar. Set in the fictional republic of Paglapur, a village on the border of India and Pakistan that no-one wanted during the partition, facing tough economic times they invent the story of a full-scale Alien invasion to boost tourism. Only maybe it's not as fictional as they originally thought.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Myth of the American Sleepover
David Robert Mitchell's slowburn youth picture has a good pedigree from the festival circuit, and indeed the wistful remembrance of the summers of our youth looks interesting and will no doubt stir up all of our repressed or half-imagined tales of our late teens, however will need to be more than that to really find an audience.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
[Rec]3 Genesis
I thought this parallel story to the first 2 Rec movies had already come out, but it turns out it was just previewing back in May. Anyway the zombies (?) have invaded a wedding reception and the found footage meme gets lost halfway through. Probably not as groundbreaking as the first of these Spanish creature features it'll still have a few fans.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Total Recall
It's interesting how Philip K. Dick's "We can Remember it for your Wholesale" has, on both adapatations, perfectly encapsulated the action cinema world around it, so the 1990 Shwarzenegger version was bright, bloody and subversive, but now with Colin Farell is visually stunning, violent without consequences and scripted by committee. Still it gets a point for not casting Ethan Hawke.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Watch
It's earned a reputation as being one of the unluckiest movies of the year, with unfortunate connections to global news events, however that doesn't make the movie good and judging by the trailer and the appalling US take this just isn't good enough. I have a message for Richard Ayolade and Jonah Hill - you're better than this rubbish find a decent project to work with. Thank you.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Yuma
Polish true life crime thriller where the titular youth rises from a petty criminal, shoplifting trainees, to the most feared and powerful bank robbers in the Eastern bloc. Expect early 90's bling aplenty, and the occasional throwback song choice.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Few Best Men
If you thought The Hangover was a little too reserved then this UK/Aussie collaboration starring a few British TV stars and Olivia Newton-John, and featuring a plethora of jokes about sex, drugs and stag do shenanigans might be for you. Probably not for the rest of us.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Mr. Marumakan
Two of this weeks releases, both minor output from the subcontinent, are so low key they don't even have IMDb pages. This Malayalam entry is the first, a seriocomic fantasy about business corruption and nepotism. Not playing in many cinemas.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Mugamoodi
The Tamil option is surprisingly under-advertised given that it appears to be a straight up superhero movie, with Batman inspired costuming (admittedly I'm talking Schumacher's version). I'll certainly keep an eye out on how this performs over the weekend.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
The Possession
It's the Jewish exorcist! The trailer is surprisingly effective in putting the chills and thrills of this demon (or dibbuk) horror front and centre, but it's still derivative and devoid of depth according to the reviews. Best not bothered with.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery
It's only out today in a selection of cinemas, and at barely 70 minutes long this Thomas adventure is really just an extended TV show. It might keep the kids entertained, but the sun is out so there's probably better things to do with the last weekend before school's go back.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
And finally last weekend I missed the tiny release of
Tim and Eric Billion Dollar Movie
Well it was only on at the Prince Charles for 2 nights so you can't really blame me. It's clearly aimed at the fans of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's Awesome show, with it's surreal sketch comedy and celebrity cameos (hello Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Zach Gallifiankis) and the plot of a meglamaniac Robert Loggia funding the billion dollar enterprise seems to be just an excuse to let the duo do their shtick.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Take This Waltz
2012. Dir: Sarah Polley. Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, Luke Kirby and Jennifer Podemski. ●●●○○
Years ago, back when I worked in bars, part of my duties included the hiring of staff. It may seem clichéd but first impressions really matter and whilst you may not know if you're going to hire someone within 10 seconds you do know if you're not. Equally, interviewees take note, you cannot have a 10 second period after that where your interviewer doesn't like you. True, we want you to do your best and enjoy the interview and show your true self, but we are looking for reasons to reject you. It's the same with movies. They need to both open well and not lose the audience. Take This Waltz, the second feature from Canadian Sarah Polley, starts beautifully, ends gracefully with real truth in it's resolution and characters. Unfortunately there's one very troubling scene about 30 minutes in that nearly made me walk out, and consequently makes me very reticent about recommending the film.
The film opens in a touristy French Canadian settlement, where enthusiastic performers re-enact typical but caricatured period scenes, called away from an almost delicate marriage ceremony (in a clear foreshadowing of events to come) Michelle Williams' pamphlet writer Margot somehow gets involved in a public whipping of a local miscreant, egged on by mysterious stranger Luke Kirby (Daniel). They meet again on the plane, mild antagonism melting into shared appreciation of silliness. Both characters annoy, Williams is brittle and childish, Kirby blunt and a bit over-attentive, yet their traits are human and believable. These characteristics exaggerate the child like emotional state the individuals are in, they want to dislike each or more accurately to be disliked but inevitable the journey ends with them playing games in a cab, pretending their not falling into lust.
Then the double whammies of the plot. Margot is married (to Seth Rogen chicken obsessed cookery book writer) and the two live virtually opposite each other.
The film then follows the path of a modern Brief Encounter; the would be lovers repeatedly bump into each other, exploring each others mindsets unable to decipher their hormones. We see Margot torn between the dull but loving Rogen - really showing his chops in a dramatic role - and the virile romanticised Kirby. The cinematic trips together between the characters in David Lean's 1945 classic are replaced by semi-planned moments in the local swimming pool (the obvious joke of Williams losing control of her bladder and the balletic underwater dance between the two are superbly framed exposing different aspects of the budding romance) whilst scenes in Daniel's flat are reminiscent of the awkward march towards sexual awakening for Celia Johnson.
Where restraint and sacrifice characterised Brief Encounter we now live in a world where self-gratification is all, ignoring Sarah Silverman's holy fool of an alcoholic sister-in-law ("Life has a gap in it... It just does. You don't go crazy trying to fill it." is the line she wisely espouses in the trailer) Williams runs after Kirby when he moves away (not to Africa but to a suspiciously large loft apartment). But Silverman is right, there is still a gap, by this point we know all the relationship short-cuts between Williams and Rogen, all those silly things couple do between themselves, comfort acts that can't be replicated. Sure the sex is better (and far more explicit) but part of the emotional connection isn't there. Williams still faces a gap, but which gap was worse.
The performances are spot on all round, Rogen's big scene when he finds out about the affair is touching and effective, whilst being cut in a truly unexpected way, Silverman too does a great job, even if it's barely different from her comedic persona. The show belongs to Michelle Williams, though, expressive through her physicality and deep beneath her eyes, even when you disagree with Margot choices (be it the faux irritability at the start or the decision to enact her desires) you fully understand the motivation. There are two scenes on a fairground ride, tipping points for the character, where Michelle does the sort of fantastic jaw-dropping work that justifies her Oscar nominations as her entire situation catches up with her and you know where she must go next.
Sarah Polley is an poetic director, focussed on finding the truth in the characters, and working again with Away from Her DP Luc Montpellier, they bathe Williams in the light of renaissance art, confirming the character is at mercy of her sexual and emotional make-up.
Now I read back at that review and it feels like a rave, but I have to return to my earlier comments. A film mustn't lose the audience, even for 10 seconds. And this film lost me. There is a discussion between Williams and Kirby that uses homophobic language. I understand why, it's Williams teasing Kirby to admit he likes her, but it is protracted and I was offended. It seemed to me an unnecessary way to make the point and as a gay man I felt there wasn't a good enough reason, or a scene later that balanced out the homophobic attitudes. That one scene, which many people probably don't even notice cost this film a blob, and whilst I would like to recommend the film for the performances, the film-making and every other scene, that one exchange seriously undermines the movie and therefore I feel I have to caution potential cinema goers.
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Not everything it seems (Out this week - 24/08/12)
As you probably have noticed I don't normally mention documentaries, for one to get a namecheck is is quite rare. For the record it's not that I'm anti-documentary, I regularly watch them at home on TV, I just don't get why you'd trek to the cinema for one. However every now and then a doc that's so celebrated, so significant comes along and I simply cannot ignore it, Senna and Exit through the Gift Shop being two recent examples. This week Burt Layton award winning doc about the Frederic Bourdin case is getting a significant UK opening, and in a weak week it's easily the best reviewed release and I felt I could relax my self-imposed rules and name the runs like a gay film of the week The Imposter.
Brave hit the bullseye this weekend, unsurprisingly beating back the latest Bourne and Sly and his mates. If the total gross, including 4 days of previews, wasn't on par with previous Pixar releases that is in part explained away by coming after the critical flop Cars 2 and by the unfortunate box office drop that is often seen when there's a female lead. This week was going to be a fight between two underperforming US comedies - but one of them chickened out - yes, I'm looking at you Ben Stiller - not because the Three Stooges is likely to crush all competition. Instead the completely non-reviewed Keith Lemon: The Film with it's TV character familiarity is likely to find itself with the lion's share of receipts.
The Imposter
It's one of the most unusual missing person cases in the 20th century, a 13 year old Texan boy who disappears on the way home from a Basketball game. Three years later he turns up in a Spanish orphanage, his eyes and hair having changed colour. In retrospect it's easy to mock the family for believing Bourdain, the French-Algerian impersonating the boy, but the documentary brings up the concept of wanting to believe the lies and the subjectivity of truth.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Read on for an insight into the Troubles, experimenting students, lessons in slapstick and all of this week's trailers and releases.
Cut almost like a thriller, you can see why this doc has really box office potential.
Shadow Dancer
Tom Bradby, the ITN News politics correspondent, here adapts his first novel with James "Man on Wire" Marsh taking directing duties. It's a gritty spy story set in the mid 1990's with Andrea Riseborough's low-level IRA member getting coerced into working for MI5's Clive Owen in an attempt to second guess the high command as they enter into the Peace talks. It's the type of high-brow intelligent cinema that calls to mind last years Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and should find an audience.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Circumstance
Whilst set in Iran, and directed by Iranian film-maker Maryam Keshavarz, it's filmed in Lebanon and it's central conceit of teenage rebellion, even against the liberal families portrayed would probably raise eyebrows. That said reviews indicate this is a loving portrait of the left-leaning middle classes living under the regime.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Gesher
Continuing the semi-season of Iranian cinema, albeit with just couple of showings in London, is this 2010 homegrown movie about three working men crossing the Country in search of better things only to find low salaries and high living costs force them to make their home in a disused pipeline.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi
Hindi comedy about a middle age romance, and that I picked up from the poster, unlikely to crack the top ten like last weekends Ek Tha Tiger.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Tango with Me
One of the few Nigerian films to make a significant UK release, even if I would have a 300 mile round trip to the nearest showing, it's a relationship drama with strong moral messages. Possibly a little ripe in the telling, but this could be marking the beginning of a new wave of central African film-making.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Tanner Hall
Odd little release for this American independent, obvious meant to capitalise on the growing fame of it's star Rooney Mara (note it was made 3 years ago, before either of her collaborations with David Fincher). Following four teenage girls as they experience the highs and lows of growing up in their elite but fading boarding school.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Three Stooges
Whilst the reviews have been mixed, I do quite like the concept of the Farelly brothers' latest cinematic foray. After all well done slapstick will always raise a snort, no matter how much we pretend to be above it, and the supporting cast that includes Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson and Larry David as Nuns sounds brilliant.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Keith Lemon: The Film
I don't particularly understand why people find Leigh Francis' character funny, but lots of people do hence his transfer to the big screen. Coming out in a similar slot to The Inbetweeners last year this is probably aiming for a similar crowd, of course it won't do anything like that sort of business, but should still do reasonable business.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
The Bourne Legacy
2012. Dir: Tony Gilroy. Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac. ●●●○○
Perspective depends very much on how you look at things. Well, duh! No, I mean that seriously. So as a child when I experienced new movies I was instantly astounded, prepared to proclaim them as cinematic masterpieces. Disney's The Fox and The Hound was the best film ever, Clue a work of comic genius, even the first 18 film I ever saw (Arnie's The Running Man) was claimed as a milestone in on-screen entertainment. For the record only one of those statements would I still describe as true. But what has this to do with my review of The Bourne Legacy? Well, friends, I have never seen a Bourne movie. I have never watched Matt Damon kill someone with a Sunday supplement, nor imagined the moral dilemmas of waking up a programmed Government assassin. So, unlike nearly every other reviewer on the web, I cannot judge Tony Gilroy's franchise extension against the previous trilogy, a comparison that doesn't favour the new film by all accounts, all I can do is compare it to thirty something years of watching action films.
And it's a perfectly acceptable slice of cinema, neither great nor bad, but diverting and fun to watch but utterly disposable.
Given my ignorance of the original movies I'm almost certainly not the target audience, the entire movie concerns a parallel story of The Bourne Supremacy bookended between Paddy Considine's journalist assassination and the trial of David Strathairn's shady CIA controller (brought back in the form of a pointless cameo with Joan Allen and Albert Finney, all of them no doubt enjoying substantial fees for one day's filming). Meanwhile numerous references to secretive projects and Government agencies make very little sense to the casual viewer. The crux being, as the advertising handily suggests, there was never just one. Never just one unaware killer and never just one corrupt agency building an army of unquestioning assassins.
As the news of Bourne's re-integration into society buzzes around the intelligence community, Jeremy Renner's supersoldier Aaron Cross is on exercises in the forests of North America, working his way across mountain and river to Oscar Isaac's isolated cabin. He's an impressive specimen, fighting off wolves bare handed, leaping across vast chasms and breaking records for reaching the shelter. Whilst he and Isaac's sulking number 3 get better acquainted Ed Norton is in damage control mode, pulling strings and closing programmes with cold efficient calculation, and soon Cross has to be taken out of the picture. Cue the start of a long game of cat and mouse where Norton and his cronies scream into telephones whilst Renner trots around the globe, always one step ahead, picking up Rachel Weisz's imperilled scientist and searching for the blue and green pills that stabilize his enhanced capabilities.
The drugs are nothing more than an international McGuffin, explained away with all the pharmacological veracity of primary science project. As the moral implications of taking an injured Iraq vet, with questionably too low an IQ to make an informed decision about his future (yes, this really is a modern Charley) turned into a fit, intelligent junkie able to volunteer for the most complex and dangerous spy missions, not to mention the extraordinary capacity to kill or maim highly trained combatants, are swept aside so Renner and Weisz can have a motorcycle chase on the bustling streets of Manila.
Renner does good action hero, suitably buff yet perennially tortured he has the perfect physicality for this sort of work. Not that he's given much chance to act, there's a nice exchange or two with Isaac, but alas much less chemistry with Weisz, possibly because here character is so underwritten and panicky. Don't get me wrong, no-one does emotional collapse quite like Rachel, but the arc is both predictable and forced.
Where the film sings is the set-pieces. A massacre in a lab is played out in real time with cold, patient camera-work and the extras acquitting themselves well as their plead or bleed through their last moments. Then a major plot twist in Weisz's house is played exceptionally well, switching from an uncomfortable interview to a chaotic gun battle in a blink of an eye. Even the final bike chase, whilst a little too long, showed some great stunt work and some excellent marksmanship.
On directorial and scripting duties Tony Gilroy brings the same high-quality, unimposing style we saw on Duplicity and Michael Clayton but alas he doesn't give his creations the zingy dialogue or intellectual sparring he brought to previous work, leaving us partly detached from the proceedings.
As I said at the beginning The Bourne Legacy isn't a bad film, but it's no great one either. Probably worth renting but not the trip to the cinema. Although personally I'm going to have to fork out on the original trilogy before watching it again.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Dancing to it's own tune (Out this week - 18/08/12)
I don't give out many really high scores on the Runs Like a Gay Excitometer, I generally like to keep it quite low, after all there have been over 300 releases so far this year and choices have to be make, so the median average score for this year is currently 3, with only one in nine releases getting over 5, and so far only four getting a coveted 9 blobs. They were Oscar candidates The Descendants and Carnage and comic book behemoth The Dark Knight Rises all arriving with plenty of fanfare and international expectation. This week sees a very different film hitting that similar highpoint, indeed it's rather snuck up on me too. With a bevvy of high quality reviews and a strong cast breaking from their comfort zone it hard to not get excited and Canadian actress cum director Sarah Polley second feature, following the devastating Away from Her, simply has to be seen, gaining the runs like a gay film of the week approval it's Take this Waltz.
I think Seth MacFarlane probably really dislikes me, for two weeks in a row I have highly underestimated the box office potential of Ted and it second week drop was indeed less steep than The Dark Knight Rises leaving Mark Wahlberg and his belching toy still on the top of the charts. Sorry Seth, won't happen again. Meanwhile dance movie Step Up: Miami Heat was the highest new entry at 3, but it's performance was spectacularly bad, 60% less tickets than the previous entry in the body popping franchise, stand by for straight of DVD follow-ups. This week sees 2, potentially 3, US chart toppers battling it out in UK cinemas. I imagine Expendables 2 will end in clear third, mainly because of the certificate and the cheating previews of Brave and Bourne Legacy both of whom opened Monday. I suspect Pixar, will ultimately take the crown with it's savvy holiday opening strategy, but this could be an exciting weekend to follow.
Take this Waltz
Michelle Williams stars in this low-key modern tale of temptation and fidelity, whether she leaves her loving but staid husband (Seth Rogen in a piece of genius casting) for hunky rickshaw driver Luke Kirby is the central plot but if Polley brings half of the resonance of her last film then it will be about so much more. Unmissable indie drama.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
Admittedly it has indie written all over it, but I do wonder how it all ends which is a great start for this type of movie.
Brave
As ever with Pixar the animation looks sumptious and genre changing, with Merida's hair in particular bouncing out of the screen in the feminist fairy tale. Although the first tendrils of Disney involvement, there's more than a touch of Mulan in the plot and Pixar first female protagonist could definitely sit in the feminist end of Disney Princesses. The fine Brit cast includes Kelly MacDonald in the lead, Billy Connelly, Emma Thompson and Julie Walters.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
The Bourne Legacy
I've already caught up with the latest Bourne movie, hopefully I'll get the review out in the next few days, and you pretty much get what everyone was expecting. An average action adventure with Jeremy Renner and Tony Gilroy merely keeping the seats warm for Damon and Greengrass. The trailers seem to have worked though, it shot straight to the top last weekend in the US.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
The Bird
It's time for a bit of French existentialism in Yves Caumon's Venice hit. A secretive kitchen worker learns to open up her life to the possibility of romance and friendship after finding a pigeon trapped in her apartment.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Expendables 2
Sylvester Stallone assembles an even batshit crazier band of 80's rejects for the follow-up to his 2010 hit. Jean Claude Van Damme shows up as villain Vilain and chuck Norris is on fine form to save a few asses. That said it still looks utterly forgettable pulp and the jokes drop like lead balloons over the trailer.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Wedding Video
Pretty much relying on the Peep Show audience to turn up in droves this nice looking Brit comedy will probably fall between the cracks before a decent run on DVD sales. Robert Webb is the groom, Lucy Punch the Bride and Rufus Hound the best man employing a professional film crew to follow the wedding preparations.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
The Devil's Business
Reviews of Sean Hogan's low budget horror have rated it reasonably highly, even if it owes a massive debt to last years Kill List. Two hitmen are despatched to dispose a particular thorn in a local crime bosses plan, only when they find a Satanist alter in his garage the job turns out to be more complex than was originally conceived.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Ek The Tiger
Globe-trotting Bollywood espionage actioner with significant funding from the US, should do well across the international markets thanks to it cross-appeal trailer and stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Tiger is Khan's undercover codename.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Thursday, 16 August 2012
360
2011. Dir: Fernando Meirelles. Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Maria Flor and Ben Foster. ●●○○○
Do you remember when Peter Morgan used to write structurally tradition biographical screenplays that read like simplistic portrayals of The Queen or Brian Clough but revealed inner depths that challenged the viewers perception of the central characters and ultimately displaying hidden their humanity. That time is gone, Morgan has clearly seen the success of multiple character dramas like Amores Perros and Crash and wishes to emulate them whilst ensuring we understand the deeper meaning. Last year his heartfelt humanist parable of death, Hereafter, showed how the emotional thematic elements eventually over-shadowed the interest we developed in the characters and the final act shoved all the storylines together to forcibly underline their individual arcs and yet rang false. In 360 he returns to the hyperlink drama charting the sexual and emotional connections of a diverse group of strangers across globe, and unsurprisingly the point feels just as tacked on and a good half of the plotlines feel so insignificant they could be cut out completely.
The film starts (and, without really spoilering, ends) with a young lady shooting a topless advert for a hooker internet profile, it's a nod to Arthur Schnitzler's turn of the century scandalous play La Ronde, bookmarked by a Viennese hooker, on which the concept of 360 is based. But where Schnitzler intended to shock his audience into the realisation that sex was both natural and dangerous (the play essentially follows a strain of Syphilis as it journeys between class and national borders before returning to the whore who kicked it off) Morgan wants to comfort us, there's a streak of misplaced romanticism that forces characters to get into cars with each other or to not have the affair they were planning. The theme of connection, the 360° we go through, is merely the means by which we make many story, rather than the end in itself.
So sexy Slovakian Lucia Siposová is about to offer herself to cuckolded husband Jude Law. He wimps out and goes back to his wife, Rachel Weisz, not so subtly having an affair with Juliano Cazarré (frankly who wouldn't). But before you can say plot device Rachel is back with Jude watching their daughter forget her lines in the school play and Juliano's live in girlfriend, Maria Flor, has also run off having caught the whole thing on tape. She gets on a plane with chatterbox Anthony Hopkins and they both get caught in a snowed in Denver with paroled sex offender Ben Foster. Hopkins then runs into Dinara Drukarova at an AA meeting before she goes back to Paris to tell her husband Vladimir Vdovichenkov it's over before expressing her love for her dentist boss Jamel Debbouze. Vladimir, feeling vaguely rejected but clearly not that put off, drives to Vienna with his obnoxious boss Mark Ivanir before a meet cute with Gabriela Marcinkova, the sister of Luica Siposová.
That's the plot in a nutshell and apart from the relentless coincidences that take us round full circle, the only real spoiler in there is the always watchable Jamel Debbouze playing a conflicted dentist, the sort of career choice that often gets marginalised on screen but here really informs their romantic stirrings.
The film started badly, with neither Law nor Weisz making interesting enough character choices to make me care if their marriage floundered or not. If it wasn't for Cazarre cavorting around in nothing but a towel, tattoo's and Clark Kent glasses I'd have walked out.
Luckily the second act, focussed around Flor, Hopkins and Foster kicks in. The three of them are all at the top of their game, Maria slipping between sisterly affection and drunken flirting and Ben tightly wound and electrifying with potentially every extra in the airport a victim if he can't control his urges. Meanwhile Hopkins gives a superb performance that reminds us of how potent a film star he can be - his speech at the AA meeting, drawing as much from his own experience as from the script is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking. In those three characters, all of whom must turn over a chapter in their lives, director Fernando Meirelles finds a chord, allowing the comedy to flow organically, the tension to build (there's one scene I nearly had to cover my eyes for) and the pay-offs for the characters were rewarding for them and for the audience in a way the rest of the film failed to deliver. Yes, from there it quickly descended into Russian gangster and tart with a heart clichés.
Elsewhere Meirelles doesn't seem to have the confidence in the material, the occasional camera flourishes and cutting techniques only hammer home the themes rather than hint at them, like Clint Eastwood before him, he seems unable to make a solid enough film from the good script sections to allow to forgive the weaker parts, and the variable script is what really lets 360 down.
Overall I can't recommend the film, but if anyone every offers you the chance to watch a 30 minutes short about Maria Flor, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster stuck in an airport I urge you to watch that masterclass in screen acting.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Coming Full Circle (Out this week - 10/08/12)
Just as no major releases saw their debut at the same time as the Olympic opening ceremony a couple of weeks ago now the games at coming to a close there is again a slight pause in the proceedings. There are two major releases coming out on Monday, the latest from Pixar and a twist on the Bourne franchise, so afraid are they of losing a few punters on Sunday evening. There are a dozen foreign language efforts and mid-level independent releases competing for audiences with Stephen Daldry's closing night on Sunday. Most of them are forgettable and frankly look awful, but there are a couple that are worth a look. The Runs like a Gay film of the week may not be one of those but it's got a great cast so Fernando Meirelles sneaks into the lead with 360
Last weekend my scepticism about Seth MacFarlane's cinematic debut led to me underestimating it's chances predicting it to miss out on the lead in the charts. Instead it soundly defeated the third weekend take from The Dark Knight Rises proving the cult audience of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" would follow their hero to multiplexes. As I mentioned earlier there's only one big release this weekend - the latest dance drama Step Up 4: Miami Heat - which will certainly find an audience but will it surpass Ted of the Batman? My guess is The Dark Knight Rises will climb back to number 1.
360
Loosely based on Alfred Schnitzler play La Ronde, with a terrible on the nose title referring to the structure of following sexual and emotional couplings across class and geographical barriers, this international co-production brings together a huge number of stars from all continents - keen on the foreign market sales. It premièred at Toronto last September - reviews may explain why we've waited so long to see it.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Read on for Albanian blood feuds, Scandinavian pools and Chinese thrillers and all of this weeks new releases and trailers.
In an Empire interview last week director Fernando Meirelles stated the Austrian trailer and poster best exhibited the film. What can I say, I don't speak German so you have the English version.
Forgiveness of Blood
I have a thing about Blood feud plots. No really, ten years ago I loved Behind the Sun which tackled a similar plotline in South America. So when I heard Joshua Marston - the genius behind Maria, Full of Grace - was travelling to Albania to film a similar stand-off between neighbouring families and tying in the themes of technological progress against cultural stand-still I knew I had to see it. It's a shame it's only on in London or Cambridge.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Jackpot
The second Jo Nesbo novel to get apated this year comes with less fanfare than the critically acclaimed Headhunters but should do equally well in terms of box office thanks to it's pitch black comedy elements. How could a former criminal who wins the pools with three mates and then wakes up, some hours later, squashed under a dead chubby hooker fail to make you laugh?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Harold's Going Stiff
It's difficult to try to work out what this well received independent British horror is aiming for, with it's mix of social realism and zombies. I expect it's a metaphor. With the question of whether Harold really is infected holding the entire plot together.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Let the Bullets Fly
A couple of cinema chains are holding an exclusive this weekend, with Reel cinemas the only place to find this immensely popular Chinese film which took over $100m in it's home country back in early 2011. Chow You-Fat is the name over the title even though this looks like a shared lead movie. If the film is half as fun as the trailer then it's worth travelling for.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Shpion
It's already been and gone on it's limited one day release but this Russian spy thriller set during the Second World War looks like it has the right balance of action and romance, including a delicious tango, seen intercut in the trailer. Probably worth digging out the DVD in next weeks bargain bin.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Barbie: The Princess and the Popstar
Make it stop. Please just make it stop. Luckily I don't have to watch this sort of garbage but the trailer was bad enough. Anyway this badly animated 90 minute advert is exclusively showing at Cineworlds nation wide this weekend. They shouldn't bother.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Dinosaur Project
It's the Blair Witch meets Jurassic Park in this fairly predictable adventure romp that sees a sextet of young athletic 'explorers' crash land into Conan Doyle territory and live just about long enough to regret it. Much like paying to see it at cinemas.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
I Against I
It's taken a very long time for this tale of London gangsters to make it to the big screen, but the patience the producers have shown in the 2 years since filming was completed has paid off, for at least 9 cinemas. It's a shame the same amount of effort wasn't put into an original and insightful script.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
In the Dark Half
I'm probably coming across as really harsh, bashing all these low budget British films, after all I'd probably kill to get into one of them and to have even a couple of cinemas showing my work. Some nice shots of stampeding deer is fine but it's not enough to make me want to see this over-worked plot.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Offender
Taking the starting off point of last summer's riots this ultra-violent youth picture follows our hero Joe Cole as he infiltrates a young offenders institution in order to take brutal revenge for his girlfriend being attacked. I think I'm too old and middle class to appreciate the warfare on the streets message.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Step Up 4: Miami Heat
Thankfully not all the bad looking movies this week are British, as the likely biggest selling bad movie will be American. I want to like to concept of flash mob dancers forming an alliance with small businesses against the corporate sharks aiming to buy up whole neighbourhoods, but there's still probably nothing new in either the romance plot or the choreography so why should I bother buying a ticket?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
