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Reviews
Wolf Hall (2015)
Shows just how easy it can be
Wolf Hall demonstrates just how easy it is to make a historical drama.
All that is necessary is a double award winning literary genius in Hilary Mantel, some of the finest actors on the planet, absorbed by their parts and a range of not just authentic but real historical locations.
Mark Rylance played a restrained, calculating, poker faced banker and made Cromwell come alive, the big difference between the Tudor banker and the modern variety is the sense of loyalty, duty and gratitude to his King that Cromwell felt, rather than the self interested greed which is common today.
Damian Lewis was Henry VIII. He had all the superficial charm, anger and determination of the original and we were privileged to watch the King age and mature, over the six episodes whilst keeping the driving passion to ensure the succession that we identify him with.
I was in tears at the execution of Anne Boleyn as much for the reassurance of Cromwell's hand on his son's arm as the bravery of the queen.
The direction and music were consistent, relevant and gifted.
We may never see its like again. Superb.
Between the Canals (2011)
An excellent film
The characters were established early in the film and the acting, I thought, was superb, a few of the young children were clearly aware of the camera, but the acting was a million miles from wooden. Some of the devices and sub plots from TV shows like The Wire are kind of inevitable when the movie is dealing with a similar sub-culture. Although I am an English speaker who is fairly used to Irish accents, I found, not the accent, but the vocabulary and expressions of the protagonists quite hard to follow.
The story was well written and although it had a limited narrative,it was, almost like a documentary, able to describe the community quickly and the main players were put into context simply by showing authority and deference,a nice touch. There is an inevitability about this type of tale and most of tension comes from waiting to see how and who is responsible for the denouement. I will have to watch it a few more times to follow the dialogue but as I love Irish films, for me, it will be an investment worth making.
Holy Motors (2012)
How many time a day are you really you?
How many times a day are you really you? And if you you are really you, do you know what you would look like? Do you know how you would feel? Do you know what you would do? And when you have finished with that area of thought, you then have to decide whether everything you do has been dictated by fate or maybe there is some kind of divine guiding hand or simply chaos. This film is really looking at the notion that all the world is a stage and is asking if there is a director and if there is, then who or what is the director. Nicely French and Kylie too. If we peel back the layers of our constructed identity what would we find? If you love Paris, you can't go wrong. A really good attempt to display a very abstract set of ideas, a unique film.
La proie (2011)
Luc Besson has an heir
I am English and while we once had the knack of making action movies that are believable we have gradually become a poor man's Hollywood. The French have taken the cop show action movie and made it their own. On TV we have the Spiral series and now this.
The star is a true indestructible bouncing along on adrenalin and feeling the pain. He is driven by all too human emotion and one wills him on to succeed.
France is lucky to have lots of good locations and the driving around fits into the plot rather than being a cheap way to fill in the minutes.
This is a simpler story that Luc Besson's Crimson Rivers films but just as suspenseful and exciting.
The best film I have seen fie a few years.
Hooligans (2004)
A bit of a dog
The film moves along quite well but the acting, direction and editing leave a lot to be desired. The characters are mostly lifted from other films and the Vinnie Jones lookalike is straight out of Gone in 50 Seconds. The comedy gangster movie is a genre that should have lots of contrast, the stupid dealers in Lock Stock and the shoot out that leaves everyone dead. You should never really know whether to laugh or just sit there in shock. This movie had the right elements but it is too easy to sit there like a person knitting and tut at the small details that should have been fixed somewhere along the line and once belief has been unsuspended one just become increasingly critical. A pity cos it was a brave attempt and although Clint Eastwood is famous for saying that'll be OK for a scene, he puts the work in before he shoots and he is Clint Eastwood. Here a bit more imagination with the camera and and a bit more coaching and rehearsal for the delivery of the lines would have made a big difference.
Running Scared (2006)
No time for tea
This movie moves. Compared to Crank and similar movies where there is time for a tea break between the action scenes, this movie is pure adrenalin and just keeps going. It is also the first movie that I have seen in a long time where I found myself applauding one particular piece of the action. The story sounds a bit clichéd and maybe on first glance is only a bit more inviting than whatever the TV was offering on Wednesday, but when the action starts it really is unrelenting. The camera work and gangster passion run it along cutting from sub plot to sub plot with amazing ease. Quintin himself could not have made a better job of this story even in his Pulp Fiction days. One to watch, a director to follow and a professional cast that has already established excellent bona fides. Jolly well done to all concerned. I look forward to the next one.
Straight Into Darkness (2004)
A warming, warning movie
In a world full of violence, to go back to a period of legitimate violence and introduce some of the elements that makes the type of modern warfare that freely uses children as protagonists, so horrific, is a very clever comment. This is probably the best film I have seen for some time, another well scripted, well acted world war two movie that was clearly made to a budget, and worth every penny. Using the notion that ones life is constantly replaying itself as a method of anchoring the personality of one character elucidates the sympathy that the character deserves and gives a meaning to his existence. It is very easy to see violence set in the past as acceptable while the same type of violence now is unacceptable and to have warm lovable characters performing excusable yet still unacceptable actions. I was left with a sense of moral confusion, feeling that the action was right, yet knowing that it was wrong. If for no other reason, the need to deal with my confusion, makes this a movie I shall watch again.
Fat Slags (2004)
Sad end of an iconic pair of women
Having been madly in love with the Fats Slags since I was a young man, I was disappointed with this movie. How on earth can directors and producers continue to imagine that it can still be funny to take ordinary people and make them rich and successful, after Rosanne destroyed her career by doing exactly that with her working class show. This is without the incredibly clichéd notion that there is something inherently funny about working class people from the north of England. They talk in a funny way , they say funny things and they don't understand sophisticated ideas like art. What a loads of dated old rubbish. The charm of the fat slags was always that they are only concerned with satisfying their immediate needs whether food, sex or anything else and this is what makes them perfect women. They have a view of themselves which depends only on the reflection one slag provides for the other and they are completely indifferent to the feelings and sensibilities of anyone else. These are the Fat Slags as the ideal women they are, the characters in this film are a complete travesty. Still, they can't take away my dreams.
Into the Sun (2005)
Well, I enjoyed it!
It is interesting when a star goes back to his old neighborhood. The ring of authenticity is everywhere in the movie. The restraint that seems endemic to Japanese culture in interpersonal dealing is represented well here. Especially between the hero and his friends, and that they should be friends is very apparent. I hope they were. The story is the Japanese (and now increasingly European ) unwillingness to get involved with yet more changes. Not everything that happened more than five minutes ago was bad, nor is everything that makes a few dollars more, good. I am not too sure about creating sympathy for gangsters, but, again, it is, in the Japanese context, believable. The action scenes were Matrix like, in slow motion, but then the star is no spring chicken. But a well crafted film with a few clichés, but not to many. I enjoyed it and was fascinated by the way the camera got into the street with real looking people. The sword fights were nice and filled with gore, and I do enjoy the Chinese sword fighting thing where the female swords-person is attacked and dispatches her opponent without even looking at him. I always think that is so cool!
The 24th Day (2004)
Real actors, real people, real story well told
I hate to sound like a theatre snob but too many movies have to give actors special powers, both in the cartoon sense and in the better, faster, more clever or scriptedley witty sense. Here are two guys who work there way through their common problem as human beings trying to find a solution. As with most human problems, there is no real solution and that also comes through. I was really left with a feeling that I was glad that I was neither of the protagonists, it was that real, that well done. Nothing was absurd, a very believable piece of cinema, easily the best of the last ten films I have seen and the only one worth commenting on. An excellently crafted piece of work that everyone involved should be proud of. A standing ovation
Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994)
Excellent story, in its context with superb direction, spellbinding
If you had to decide what could make a director great, to me, it would his ability to make the audience, watch, fascinated, while a suitcase travelled around the baggage belt at an airport. No explanation, no hints or clues, leaving one wondering is travel involved, is there a dark secret in the suitcase, whatever, but just brilliantly timed and photographed. A period piece now, and none the worse for that, we know that the cowboys days in Eastern Euope have passed but this is a story about the time when everything was up for sale and success was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with foreign currency. Given the truth of the this, the story of revenge and regret is plausible. Add to direction and story a group of committed actors and you have a film that is part of a legendary set of movies about contemporary life. I enjoyed this one and Blue immensely. If I could give it 11 out of 10 I would, which says something about suspended belief.
Fear (1996)
Straw Dogs 345 or something like it
I am a major fan of both Reece Witherspoon and Mark Wharlberg. I enjoyed the end of the movie, but then I am a brit and love Straw Dogs. The big difference is that suddenly loads of guns appear, the bad guys had guns and didn't shoot out the windows? I also missed the cooking oil. The lady of the house was cooking away when Mark and his mates turned up, maybe the new fat free diet fad, so nothing to irritate the psychos? Who knows. I thought it was going elsewhere for a while and was very sad when it all became too predictable. A few saucy scenes from Reece and Mark were well done and the thing was well edited and rolled along nicely but the story was very much a Hong Kong remake standard of offering. One to chalk up to experience. Both stars have certainly moved onward and upward and I look forward to their next movies.
Swimming Pool (2003)
The opposite of disappointing
I select films that I do not think I have seen before. I have no idea who made them who is in them or what they are about. I just use them to fill an hour or so. Many I never watch to the end. I thought this was just another made in Hollywood movie. Instead it was the movie equivalent of the book I was unable to put down. No one, not the director, the actors or the crew imposed their message on me ( I saw the Irish pub theatre version of Alexander last week, that movie tattoos it's message on your eyeballs). This movie was peopled by personalities, pictures and places. It was a piece of Anglo French (or the other way round)excellence. My personal thanks to all those who made the movie for making me feel I had not wasted at least this time in my life. Smashing!!!!!!