Wednesday 31 October 2012

YOUNG ADULT: MY REVIEW

Mavis Gary is an alcoholic that much is clear, she’s also a neurotic, self-obsessed bitch and we’re meant to sympathize with her. Mavis is played by Charlize Theron who establishes herself with this role as one of the most talented actresses working today.

Mavis writes teenage romance novels but they are not about vampires. The series is on its last legs and Mavis is being hounded by her publisher to give them a first draft. Mavis has gone back to her hometown of Mercury in search of the boy she lost, his name is Buddy Slade and he’s played by the endearingly earnest Patrick Wilson. When Buddy and Mavis were in high-school together they were inseparable. Fast forward twenty years later and Buddy is married with a newborn baby.

When Mavis finally sees Buddy she thinks his wife has taken away the life that was always rightfully hers. When Mavis finally gets into town she meets Matt Freehauf played by Patton Oswalt in his best role yet as a disabled local man who lives with his sister, paints figurines and distills his own toxic alcohol. Matt is quick to tell Mavis that she had a locker beside him for the entirety of high-school and never noticed him.

In Matt, Mavis meets her match with a person who hates as many things as she does and at the start of the picture they seem like polar opposites but as the story progresses you begin to see how similar they really are.

The film is directed by Jason Reitman, who on his fourth feature has established himself to be a very confident director of blackly comic, independent feature films. The screenplay was written by Diablo Cody who after first collaborating with Reitman on the wonderful Juno returns with a script that bites even harder and is more emotionally engaging then Juno MaGuffs baby trouble ever could be.

The comedy is at times laugh-out-loud and others cringe inducingly painful. One scene in particular set at a baby naming ceremony goes from absolutely hilarious to difficult to watch in a matter of seconds.

All of the cast are at the top of their game and the fact that a film as good as 'Young Adult' got snubbed entirely during awards season is a real shame for such a well-made, powerfully acted film.

Monday 29 October 2012

SKYFALL REVIEW

Skyfall is a peculiar Bond film, but not completely, it retains all the series staples, the guns,girls and gadgets but puts such a fresh spin on them they hardly feel like staples at all. Much of the credit has to go to Sam Mendes. He was always a strange choice to begin with, with his theater background and art-house tendencies but one thing he is renowned for is getting the very best out of his actors and this is very much the case for Bonds 23rd outing.

Daniel Craig returns to don the Tom Ford once again in his third go at the role of the suave super-agent. One thing Craig brings to the role which no other previous actor could do is bring an air of gritty realism to a man who having gone through everything he has would be irreversibly damaged and Craig makes you believe it with every furrowed line in his weathered face.

Mendes has gathered together a superb cast to support Craig with the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Ben Whishaw and Dame Jude Dench all bringing their considerable talents to small but integral roles in the plot. The real star of the show here is Javier Bardem, who after chilling you with his role as a psychopath in the Coen brothers 'No Country For Old Men' returns to what hes best at playing the first great Bond villain of this century. His introductory scene deserves to be re-watched as he channels a psycho-sexual violence and goes on to emasculate Bond simply using his computer and a few choice words.

Roger Deakins is Mendes frequent collaborator returns and shoots what is most likely the most gorgeous Bond film ever put on celluloid. The third act which takes places place entirely in the Scottish Highlands looks breathtaking through Deakins camera.

The film is a stunning return to form after the disappointing 'Quantum Of Solace' it manages to combine the darker more grown up feel of 'Casino Royale' with the over the top fun which has been missing from Bond of late.The script is strong and keeps your involved throughout and you never feel time is dragging through its 2 hour and 25 minute running time. The credit should go to Mendes who manages to make the most fun and entertaining  Bond yet and leaves a very difficult job for whichever director has to follow up this.              

        

Saturday 27 October 2012

DONNIE DARKO : MY REVIEW

28 days....6 hours....42 minutes....12 seconds, this is all the time Donnie Darko has left until the world as he knows it ends forever. Donnie is not you normal 16 year old, he is introverted, medicated and stalked by a 6 foot tall bunny rabbit in his dreams called Frank, who warns Donnie of the oncoming Apocalypse. Donnie lives in a white American town called Middlesex which is a definition of suburbia.

 This is the place where first time writer-director Richard Kelly decided to set his cult masterpiece claiming it was very similar to the world he grew up in. The movie is set in 1988 on the eve of Halloween. Kelly assembled an incredible cast for his debut with the wonderful Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular anti-hero of the piece giving an incredibly nuanced performance using just the tilt of his head to make him feel charming or intimidating in equal measure, the film also boasts the talents of the late Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham as the towns resident self help guru with a dirty secret, also in the cast is Drew Barrymore playing Donnie's rebellious English teacher and Donnie's parents played brilliantly by Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne.

In the course of the film Donnie meets Jena Malone's Gretchen Ross a similarly odd and confused young girl who is attracted to Donnie through his quirks. The film contains a great eighties soundtrack with everything from Echo and the Bunnymen to Joy Division. The film is most definitely Richard Kelly’s who balances Donnie's apparent descent into madness with the satirical quality of the self help videos that appear throughout the film.

 The film is cult classic with an endless amount of lines to quote and several images stick in your memory for the foreseeable future, the film is brilliantly layered with themes of madness, time-travel, religion and the state of modern America. The film can viewed many times and there are moments where it is up to the viewer to the decide what happens, this is most evident in the films enigma of an ending which requires several viewings before the average viewer can give a proper answer on what they think really happens in the third act. The film is a masterpiece in modern film-making and deserves its place as one of the most discussed films of the decade.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

ILL MANORS:My Review





WE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF OUR ENVIRONMENT


Forest Gate, London summer 2010, England was in flames as thousands of angry young youths raced through city streets looting shops and burning down houses. These images were broadcasted worldwide as these young people were dubbed as 'chavs and scum' by the tabloid hunting newspapers. There was public outrage nationwide as people called for these young people to be put in jail.

Fast forward to 2012 and you will see Ben Drew's A.K.A Plan B'S debut feature the aptly titled Ill Manors. Drew's aim is to pull back the curtain and show how these people came from innocent children to thieving arsonists. His aim is to get to the core of the problem where people stop reading the sensationalist headlines and to start looking at the deeper more inherent problems in British youth culture.

He achieves this by showing Forest Gate his hometown as a type of hell on earth with its inhabitants being a cast of drug dealers, prostitutes, illegal immigrants and crack addicts. Manors is as bleak as it gets with one scene involving a prostitute named Michelle being pimped out to an entire street of kebab shop owners in order to pay back a drug dealers stolen phone.

Drew never lets his film fall into unbelievable levels of grimness as he peppers the dialogue with sly dark moments of humor. Drew keeps his film stylistically interesting and prevents it from falling in with the slew of other generic British gangsters thrillers. The opening credits in particular establish the film to be of a higher quality.

The film is in some ways cinemas first Hip-hop musical with Drew rapping over the images of his characters and filling in all the necessary background details. The films influences are clear with one scene especially giving homage to Martin Scorsese's seminal 1980s masterpiece Taxi Driver.

The performances as whole are absolutely brilliant with nearly the entirety of the cast being newcomers all give refreshingly authentic performances.

Ill Manors is an eye opener to all of middle-class England who rush to demonize these kids before they know anything about their background and Drew establishes himself to be one of the most interesting new talents in British film-making.

                                              



Wednesday 3 October 2012

LOOPER: MY REVIEW

Time travel, one the trickiest subjects to pull off no matter what medium your presenting it in. It should come as no surprise that Rian Johnson decided to write his third feature film by completely upping shop and trying his hand at an entirely new genre. Looper is set in the future in the year 2042. Our protagonist is Joseph Gordon (on a continuous winning streak)Levitt plays Joe. He is hitman who disposes of hooded victims sent by gangsters of the future by blowing them away with his retro-futuristic shotgun.
 Joe leads a hedonistic lifestyle with him being addicted to a drug that he pours into his tear duct,he drives a vintage car and visits a strip-club on a regular basis while he eyes up his favorite go-go girl.One day Joe's best friend played by (There Will Be Bloods) Paul Dano makes a terrible decision that leaves you with a scene that is like something from a Saw movie but leaving just your imagination to fill in the gaps.
What happens after that scene propels the movie down into a maze of bloody action and intelligent dialogue. Bruce Willis is soon introduced and all though at the start of the movie  his performance feeling a little lazy and phoned in he quickly warms to the role and is on par with everyone else.
The film is terrifically cast with great supporting roles from Bricks Noah Seagan and always great to see him Jeff Daniels who was sent from the future to keep a handle on all the loopers in his employment. Particular mention should go to Emily Blunt who plays a take-no-prisoners country girl who will stop at nothing to protect her son and her ranch. The film though is most certainly Levitts who had to go through two hours of make up and prosthetics to play a believably younger version of Willis, he has clearly studied the mans filmography and has his jaw set to the appropriate position and has his voice lowered enough to believe it could end up sounding like Willis gruff tones.    
                                                                         

JGL as Loopers Joe
The film is expertly directed by Johnson who only on his third feature has carved out a reputation from himself for being on of the most interesting writer-directors working today. The cinematography is also excellent with several shots sticking in the mid long after you leave the cinema. The walks the fine line of not losing itself to the complexity of the subject and not spending an unwelcome amount of time on its characters. Throughout you are always entertained and engaged with the film managing to appeal to your heart and brain for the duration of the two hour running time