I feel I'm probably out of step this week, obviously not for my lack of support for the robot fest that's bound to own the weekend's box office, but for my championing of Robert Redford's latest movie, which has been derided in the press for it's po-faced sincerity. That said there really is little on this week so I'm going for The Conspirator as film of the week.
The Conspirator
Set in the immediate aftermath of Lincoln's assassination Redford's film appears to draw the parallels to the clamour for revenge with post 9/11 sensibilities and the impact of the rule of law. Hopefully he does those weighty themes justice.
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Larry Crowne
Does the thought of the worlds most successful film star - Tom Hanks - getting it on with America's Sweetheart Julia Roberts make you want to see this recession era rom-com? Oddly it doesn't for me either. Taraji P. Henson also costars.
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Separation
Highly acclaimed Iranian soap about a couple divorcing as the woman seeks independence and a better life in America. Taking in Muslim attitudes to feminism and childcare this could be worth the effort to catch.
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Bbuddah… Hoga Tera Baap
Amitabh Bachchan stars as Vijay, a retired hit man returning to India for one last job - to be followed by just about every assassin cliche you can remember. Horribly rated on IMDb.
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Delhi Belly
Hindi buddie movie that looks set to emulate the more scatological details of modern American comedies.
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Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I had heard the third of Michael Bay's oversized toy commercials may be the best of the trilogy, however that's probably not enough to make me fork out my £10. I do wonder how he persuades quality thesps like Frances McDormand and John Malkovich to star though.
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Fast Romance
I could be tempted to make some political statement about the significance of a Scottish movie that's only being released in Scottish cinemas even though the funding almost certainly came from the rest of the UK as well. The film depicts a wild night of speed dating.
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Friday, 1 July 2011
Whispering in the Shadows - (Out this week - 01/07/11)
Dan Aykroyd
Happy Birthday to
Dan Aykroyd
59 today
Of course the biggest question hanging over Aykroyd right now is whether the third Ghostbusters movie will ever get made. He seems to be keen but of course without the rest of the crew signing up and a quality script being produced there seems little chance of the film being made, let alone being any good.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
127 Hours
2010. Dir: Danny Boyle. Starring: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Clémence Poésy and Treat Williams. ●●●●○
As I was saying a couple of weeks ago there were a couple of movies released in January that I didn't get a chance to catch in cinemas. The second of those was Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, and to be perfectly honest with you I'm glad I watched it in the comfort of my home - where I could pause the film and nearly pass out without feeling horribly embarrassed in front of strangers (I count my readers as friends hence I'm able to tell you here). Frankly my side - where I curled into the fetal position and slowly recovered is still in agony the following day. In short the movie caused an unprecedented reaction for me. I'm not a gore hound but I have seen some of the torture porn genre but nothing prepared me for the money shots in this picture.
For those of you who don't know the plot - and I doubt there are many - the film follows James Franco as Aron Ralston the self-professed adventurer and live for today outdoorsy type who on a weekend of canyoneering in Utah dislodged a massive rock which pinned his arm against the rack face. We then watch Franco deteriorate from a cocky angry young man into a hallucinating wreck accepting his death before he finally faces the enormity of the decision he will have to face.
That's about it. We get a short introduction when he meets up with two backpackers in the opening minutes of the film, and there is the odd flashback as Franco searches for meaning in his life, but 75% of the film is Franco trapped under a rock. Given that this is a true story (and I - like many others - knew how it would end going in) the film carefully walks that type-rope between maintaining suspense and cheating the audience - the frequent hallucinations blur the line of reality, confusing fact from fiction to the viewer and making the ultimate ending seem so far away.
Franco excels in the role, every moment of his screen time is fascinating as multiple attempts to escape fail and he traverses through the Kübler-Ross model of grief.
Of course all that would be in vain if the work around Franco wasn't high class as well. Simon Beaufoy's script, based in part on the recordings that Ralston made in the canyon, does that rare combo of ratcheting up the tension whilst also developing the themes of needing humanity and family to really survive. The make-up department also need to be praised for their work on Franco, each scene sees the deterioration in his physicality and his colour as his energy seeps away during the 127 hours he was trapped.
Danny Boyle, editor Jon Harris and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle stuff the film with split screens, repeated actions and graphic tracking shots that emphasise the isolation of this MTV matinee idol like character.
Would I recommend this movie. Oddly no, I don't think I could, in spite of how excellent it is that one scene is so much I can't advise other people watch it. Would I watch it again. Probably not. Did this film move me with it's themes and execution in a way that few movies have ever done. Certainly.
Gary Busey
Happy Birthday to
Gary Busey
67 today
Is Mr. Busey the craziest man in Hollywood? There's no point in denying the rumours, there's been the odd behaviour on "Celebrity Apprentice" and his recent firing from the set of Mansion of Blood, allegedly for erratic behaviour and inappropriate comments to women on set. It'll be interesting to see how quickly he's devoured in Piranha 3DD.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Bruce Davison
Happy Birthday to
Bruce Davison
65 today
Here's something I expect you didn't know, Pennsylvania native Davison was the first actor cast in the X-Men series thanks to his previous work with director Bryan Singer on Apt Pupil - I'd have thought that Ian McKellen (who was also in both films) would be a little pee'd off at that. By the way there's nothing on Bruce's upcoming slate that seems worth catching.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Running (26/06/11)
I'm not sure, but I think my weightloss may have plateaued, not that it's a big issue as I'm well within the BMI "normal" range but I've only lost 2 pounds in the last 3 weeks. Hey ho, at least I've managed to surpass my best weeks in terms of the pace when out on the road (although it's worth noting the average distance of a run is significantly shorter than last week). Only 11 weeks left until the Marathon now...
6 runs
30.1 miles
4 hours 03 minutes
So that's an average speed of 7.44 mph
Eleanor Parker
Happy Birthday to
Eleanor Parker
89 today
I do have a system for choosing the birthdays to celebrate, but it does mean that some performers get repeated more than others, which in turn means I have little to say about some performers that I haven't already said. For instance Ms Parker has had her birthday commemorated 3 times here. Hopefully Alex and Andrew have both caught up on some of her more obscure movies over that time (no pressure chaps). I recently rewatched The Man with the Golden Arm and her ridiculously over the top performance as Frank Sinatra's crippled wife Zosch is delightfully manic.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
The drip drip drip of a slow news week (News - 25/06/11)
To be perfectly honest it's not been a great week for news, only a handful of stories none of which guarantee my support when the film is finally made - in fact none of them are even close to making it into pre-production let alone a movie getting into cinemas. I guess only time will tell.
Untitled Howard Hughes biopic
Over several days this week we heard a slow feed of stories about Warren Beatty's next project - on Monday we learnt he was due to star and helm a movie, on Tuesday it became a comedy and so on. It seems the Dick Tracy 2 comments he made a couple of weeks ago were a cover for a biopic of the barking billionaire whose well-documented germ-phobia kept him isolated and paranoid for most of his later years.
This film will oddly take on that part of his life, especially an unlikely romantic relationship with a younger woman, and certainly won't be a thematic sequel to Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. 
Howard Hughes in saner times.
Talks have already begun with a broad collection of Beatty's Hollywood mates including Annette Bening, Rooney Mara, Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson and Andrew Garfield which certainly sounds like a cracking cast. Although you can assume there haven't been talks with Christopher Nolan who publicly expressed a desire to make another Hughes movie last year.
Read on for Israeli spies, Formula 1 heroes, competing agents and big "C" conservatism, as well as the latest casting calls and an update on forthcoming UK releases.
Gabriel Allon
If Bond and Bourne have too much inconvenient imperialist baggage then maybe this latest spy franchise will have the ambiguity you need to keep an interest. Allom is the brainchild of Daniel Silva and has so far appeared in 10 books so the possibilities for sequels are pretty extensive. He's in his 40's, therefore older than you'd expect from the genre, and splits his time between fine art restoration and catching terrorists. The stories, including the first book The Kill Artist (right), are commended for their balanced view of the Isreal-Palestine situation as well as kick-ass action scenarios.
Rush
I've made no secret of my Formula 1 fandom so it's always a pleasure to see a motor racing themed movie in the works, even if the results really succeed in encapsulating the excitement of the real thing. This Peter Morgan scripted effort will chart the 1976 championship battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, a titanic battle which saw the lead seesaw between the two of them as well as some shocking crashes that led to Lauda losing an ear! Literally on the edge of my seat about this.
Spy vs. Spy
I'm guessing the spy vs. spy comic strip (above) is much more popular in the States than it is over here - I personally had never heard about it - but the tit for tat competition between the two central agents as they try to prove who's the premier in their field could well make a fun children's comedy in the vein of Johnny English. What do you think?
Untitled Todd Haynes project
After the brief sojourn in television with the Kate Winslet starring "Mildred Peirce" Tadd Haynes is looking to return to mainstream cinema (or as mainstream as he ever gets) working from a script by Meek's Cutoff script writer Jon Raymond. The details available are extremely sketchy at the moment, all we know - from an interview with Time Out - is that it will look at the contemporary conservative politics in America, whether that means an expose on the Tea party remains to be seen.
Casting News
The forthcoming cinematic outing for The Lone Ranger has picked up a villain in the guise of Railroad baron Tom Wilkinson. There's also been some movement on Silver Lining's Playbook, with Robert De Niro proving he's still interested in working with director David O. Russell, the same cannot be said for Anjelina Jolie who appears to disappeared from the project with a long-list of stars queuing up to play Mark Wahlberg unforgiving ex, including Jennifer Lawrence - although I suspect that's for completely different role.
Release Schedules
I've changed the website I get my release schedules from, finally getting tired of the patchy work at Pearl and Dean and have moved onto www.filmdates.co.uk, it's slightly less user friendly but it's exhaustive in terms of content. As a result there are loads of new release dates to announce, although surprisingly no dates have changed over the last month.
Restless - Gus van Sant's latest comes across as a return to the elegiac masterpieces that pepper his career although reviews from Cannes suggest it's nowhere near the quality of his best hits. Fall for a suicidal teen on 21 October 2011.
Ides of March - We heard this week that George Clooney's political potboiler will be opening the Venice festival, just in time to make it's UK debut. Secure support at the primaries on 28 October 2011.
Happy Feet 2 - It's perfectly possible that I'll be seeing two animated releases this year, given how surprised I was at the quality of Rango and being a supporter of the original penguin cartoon this could be my second. Tap dance across the Antarctic on 02 December 2011.
Dangerous Method - The first trailer for David Cronenberg's psychoanalysis biopic promises plenty of inappropriate desire if little historical accuracy. Succumb to your desires on 20 February 2012.
Jack the Giant Killer - Next summer is beginning to fill up with some very interesting projects, including this fairytale adventure from the director of X-Men. Although the final tone of the project will be very tricky to balance. Find a goose with golden eggs on 15 June 2012.
Bond 23 - Some of the forthcoming movies on filmdates are still in pre-production (or even earlier in the process) which does make the release date seem less likely to be achieved. This is notable for Daniel Craig's next outing as James Bond which has already seen plenty of delays due to financing issues within MGM. Take your martini shaken, not stirred, on 26 October 2012.
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II - the final installment in the massively popular teenage vampire series is set to come out late next year, don't expect any studio to be brave enough to open anything big against it. Find your true love on 16 November 2012.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Photos of Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen as Bilbo and Gandalf has found themselves onto the web this week and we can probably look forward to seeing a steady drip drip of publicity for the Lord of the Rings prequel for the next 18 months. Go there, but not yet back again, on 14 December 2012.
The Life of Pi - Competing against Jackson's epic will the altogether smaller option of a small boy in a boat with a tiger, a hyena, an orang-utan and a zebra, balancing survivalist and existential themes Yann Martel's novel has received exceptional praise which will hopefully translate to the movie. Find yourself lost at sea on 14 December 2012.
Oz: The Great and Powerful - A prequel (not that we can really invoke the comparison) to the magical Judy Garland starer which aims to be the biggest of the latest round of L. Frank Baum releases in which we'll see James Franco's Wizard and his arrival in Oz. Take charge in an alternate universe on 08 March 2013.
The Dark Tower - We've heard a lot this week about whether Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's magnum opus will ever get made, he's positive it will but budget reductions are meaning massive script revisions. Even so I remain skeptical that this release date (690 days away) will be achieved. Discover the beam on 17 May 2013.
Friday, 24 June 2011
Digging up the Past (Out this Week - 24/06/11)
It's an odd week, with a variety of fascinating Foreign language offerings competing with only one major US release. Whilst Judd Apatow's first foray into feminine ideas of comedy may be getting some plaudits the trailer slightly put me off so the film of the week is Incendies.
Incendies
Set in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, and filmed by a French/Canadian film the Oscar nominee explores the regional tensions and how we never really understand our heritage until it's too late to appreciate the magnitude of the truth.
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Bridesmaids
I'm told the film itself is a lot more subtle and funny than the publicity seems to suggest with a knockout cast of commedienne's visting Las Vegas for Maya Rudolph's Bridal shower (is that American for Hen Party). Jill Clayburgh makes her final film performance.
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Viva Riva!
The first of this weeks films with an African connection is the Kinshasa based thriller about the eponymous heroes escapades in a corrupt and petroleum starved city. Very exciting trailer that reinforces the theme of a clever modern thriller.
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Checkpoint
Odd horror about four American's being stopped on the Canadian border after a weekend away only to find it ain't Customs that's stopped them. Cue 80 minutes of torture porn.
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Double Dhamaal
Bollywood movie resurrecting the comedic quartet from Dhamaal with probably a similar plot dragging the imbeciles through predicatably complex brushes with mafia and big business.
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First Grader
The true story of a 84 year old former Mau Mau resistance fighter who answers the Kenyan Governments pledge of "Free Education for All" by returning to school to learn to read. Looks heartwarming and fun, with just the right amount of political tension.
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Ghosted
Another British prison movie with naive cons getting involved with the big boys. Aims to be an English Prophete, probably comes across as Porridge on steroids.
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No Ordinary Trifle
If you think that sounds rubbish there's always this comedy about a small town chef and the barmaid he falls for in a West Country pub hoping for some Michelin stars. When Gordon Ramsey is a name above the title for a cameo you know you're in trouble.
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Wednesday, 22 June 2011
The Messenger
2009. Dir: Oren Moverman. Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone and Steve Buscemi. ●●●●○
I had given up on the possibility of a UK release of The Messenger, in spite of it's double Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actor for Woody Harrelson and Best Screenplay) there hadn't been a sign of release until 2 years after it's US bow. Fortunately it has managed to squeeze out a very limited UK showing - just 5 cinemas - and whilst I wasn't able to make it to one of those I have already bought a copy on DVD and am delighted to be able to review the film here. Like In the Valley of Elah and the supermarket scene of The Hurt Locker this movie takes a look at the Iraq conflict in the context of the aftermath and the casulaties of war, but Oren Moverman's fly on the wall take on a Casulaty Notification Team outdoes both of those movies and could even be seen as the definitive Iraq movie.
The plot is simple, even bare, Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), recovering from multiple injuries sustained in battle, is assigned to a Casualty notification unit under the command of Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson) visiting the next of kin of soldiers killed in action and informing the worst. Essentially we follow the two protagonists as they bond during R&R as well as watching them repeat this horrific but necessary job on several iterations, meeting angry fathers (Buscemi) and stunned widows (Morton) and experiencing the wide variety of responses.
Our central protanonists are both superb. Foster is a tightly wound ball of rage unable to appreciate the emotional hurt of his own situation who slowly develops a level of catharsis through noticing the details of others coping with their loss. Whilst a burgeoning romance with Morton's (now) single mother gives him the momentum to reassess his priorities.
Harrelson brings a sarcastic and brittle edge to his former alcoholic with more experience than he would like in his present role, but desperately hiding the insecurities and feelings of survivors guilt.
These two individually put in career best work, but together their scenes are magnificently played and staged. From the cases where the camera follows close behind, hovering over their shoulders, dragging the viewer into the scene, increasing our culpability, their stony faces barely disguising the compassion and understanding behind their eyes. To the final confrontations at Foster's flat, both of them confessing their innermost insecurities admitting to their shared faults. Even the drunken shoot out, boys pretending to die takes on a more oppressive and deeper meaning in context.
The rest of the cast, in small but powerful roles, are equally commendable, with a deep reverance for all the families even when the circumstances could have descending into soap operatics the performances are too subtle to allow that.
Moverman with co-writer Alessandro Camon have crafted a script which fully understands the issues of war and the comaradarie of those who have fought and the consequences of conflict. And Moverman's direction is unique in drawing us into the grounded world they have created.
Ultimately I would be prepared to say this is almost certainly the definitive Iraq war movie, one that fully contextualises the unnecessary loss of life and the effects on the families left behind. I recommend this movie for anyone interested in current affairs and 21st century history.
