Five films in the Film Fight for October…

First up, Filth is a film in the Irvine Welsh tradition: an anti-hero swept into a maddening situation of his own making, presented in a surreal technicolour, before dropping into a cold, dank reality. That Filth isn’t anything new doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s not. James McAvoy does a fantastic job of showing the breakdown of a cop who was always a little on the edge. Supported by a fun cast, he is certainly the film’s highlight. The film is somewhat undone by the weirdness. While it mostly fits the portrayal, it sometimes lacks a point beyond being strange. Overall, the film is decent, but could’ve been better. A film to watch, rather than rewatch. (See my Filth Twitter review).

How I Live Now is the story of an American girl who comes to stay a summer with her cousins in rural England. Unfortunately, a devastating war breaks out whilst no adults are around. The film could’ve descended into a crude Lord of the Flies rip-off at this point but it doesn’t. Instead it does an excellent job of building a new survivalist world in the background, the young cast slipping into it seamlessly as the world collapses around them. There are many excellent moments of despair (that I won’t spoil) but the film is somewhat let down by a flimsy central romance, hints of psychic abilities that go nowhere (apparently they’re more important in the book), and more than a few lines of clunky dialogue delivered poorly by the youngest actors in the cast. All in, it’s a beautifully presented work, let down by the details. One to see. (See my How I Live Now Twitter review).

Wherever you sit on the Wiki Leaks debate, The Fifth Estate should’ve been an interesting insight into the organisation’s early days and founders. While Benedict Cumberbatch puts in an excellent performance as a controlling, jealous and paranoid Assange and Daniel Brühl does a good job of playing his level-headed counterpart, they can’t save the film from its many flaws. When it has to lower itself to silly CG office spaces filled with countless copies of Assange to explain the technology of the organisation, you know that it’s not going to get better. A real shame, given the meaty subject. (See my The Fifth Estate Twitter review).

The problem with Prisoners is that it’s an afternoon murder mystery with torture porn set-dressing: it has the cliched attempts to mislead of the former, and the unnecessary and over-the-top suffering of the latter. I don’t really want either. The cast can’t be held responsible here, as everyone puts in an outstanding performance; from Jackman’s angry father-figure to Dano’s disturbed young man, the principle actors do a great job. It’s a shame, then, that they don’t get better material with which to work. You’ll see many of the attempts to fool you coming, as not one hasn’t been seen many times before. All of that said, when it lets Jackman’s character go off-the-rails, things can get remarkably tense. Just how far will he go to save his daughter? Good, but not a classic. (See my Prisoners Twitter review).

Finally, if you’re looking for a ridiculous, over-the-top action film with lots of B-movie trimmings, then Machete Kills will work for you. It’s not as well made or silly as the original, but you’re unlikely to care. You’ll get the intentionally terrible dialogue, wonky effects, explosions and half-baked characters you’d expect from a grindhouse film. Enjoy after a drink or two for maximum impact. (see my Machete Kills Twitter review).

The winner for October is Prisoners. It’s not a strong winner, but the best of a fun-to-average bunch.

A fairly quiet month in September, with only two films…

First up, The Way, Way Back is a coming-of-age indie film, about a dorky boy who, with the help of Sam Rockwell’s character finds the self-confidence he badly needs. It does the dweeb-stands-up-for-himself trope reasonably well, but balances it with some difficult family moments. The performances are all decent enough, with Steve Carrell standing out as being cast against-type but doing well. As these kind of films go, this one is remarkably good. (See my The Way, Way Back Twitter review).

Finally, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints has Casey Affleck as an outsider who suffers for someone else’s mistakes. As he goes to prison, he leaves behind a family who have to cope without him. The problem is that nothing in the story makes you care particularly about the suffering of either of the leads, and the film has little else going on. Without any reason to buy into the narrative, the movie feels unnecessarily drawn-out and dull. Entirely forgettable. (See my Ain’t Them Bodies Saints Twitter review).

The winner is The Way, Way Back for a good take on a well-trodden genre.

For August, we have 5 films in the Film Fight…

First up, Monsters University is the entirely unnecessary prequel to what is possibly Pixar’s greatest film, Monsters Inc. It obviously has a heavy burden to live up to its forebear. The good news is that it doesn’t entirely fluff it, though it clearly isn’t operating at the same level. It has a number of funny bits, interesting characters and the charm you’d expect of a Pixar movie, so you won’t miss out in seeing it. That said, it feels like it’s just being made for the money; building out a backstory that no-one needed. It’s good, not great. (See my Monsters University Twitter review).

Nicholas Winding Refn has directed some excellent films, like Bronson and Drive (which won the 2011 Film Fight Finale – even if I latter changed my mind, and decided that Another Earth should’ve won). Only God Forgives is not an excellent film; it’s astonishingly bad. While it looks incredible throughout, the rest is pretentious, lacking substance, flimsy and poorly constructed. It’s unevenly paced, has paper-thin characters, and many of the scenes simply do not matter. It is incredibly badly judged on almost every level. A strong contender for the worst film of the year, and certainly the most disappointing.  (See my Only God Forgives Twitter review).

Kick-Ass 2 manages to be even more nihilistically fun and gleefully violent than its predecessor, which is no easy task given the explosion of colour and carnage of the original. The main plot is about a supervillian uprising, funded by an unexpected source, and a group of vigilantes trying to stand up for normal people while realising they’re not playing a game. There’s a subplot following Hit Girl to high school which has some laughs, but is entirely superfluous to the main plot. On the whole, it’s hit-or-miss, but fun enough that it’s worth seeing. (See my Kick-Ass 2 Twitter review).

Lovelace is the dark story, based on her biography, of Linda Lovelace, the star of Deep Throat. It is first presented as a “fun” telling of her story (with enough warning signs to see what is coming), but the narrative doubles back to show the horrendous abuse she suffered, essentially being forced into the industry by her then husband. Peter Sarsgaard puts in a terrifically terrifying performance as the abuser, and Amanda Seyfried (an actress whose output I would normally avoid) is very believable as the abusee, showing real vulnerability. Very worth seeing. (See my Lovelace Twitter review).

Finally, Elyisum is Neill Blomkamp’s first film since the very impressive District 9. How has he done with a bigger budget and better known cast? It’s certainly a grander presentation, but a much less effective story. As an allegory, it’s clunky and obvious, whilst as a straight-up story it’s inconsistent. Even the action sequences are, at best, hit-or miss. The physicality of District 9’s action (even though much of that was CG) gives way to some limp shoot-outs with gadgets that you will not care about. The film, tellingly, comes alive each time Sharlto Copley’s character, the main antagonist, is on-screen as he tears himself towards some goal through sheer force of will, even if we don’t care much about said goal. Mostly bad. (See my Elysium Twitter review).

The winner is Lovelace. The performances were worth seeing, and the rest of the production wasn’t exactly slouching either.

Four films in the Film Fight for July.

First up, The East is something of a missed opportunity. Having thoroughly enjoyed Brit Marling’s performance in the mesmerising Another Earth, I had high hopes for her in this. I was not disappointed. Marling shows the right mix of vulnerability, naivety and determination for her character (a corporate spy) to make sense. The rest of the cast, however, are a little wasted. We know both Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard are capable actors, but here they don’t have much to work with. The film ticks over nicely, until a muddled last act undoes a lot of the ground work, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. Worth seeing. (See my The East Twitter review).

Man of Steel, however, is not worth seeing. It spends twenty or so minutes building up a fascinating mythos and origin at Superman’s home planet which makes you yearn for a better movie called Krypton: Civil War. Sadly, we quickly move to Earth and see an incoherent mess of characters play out pointless CGI battle after CGI battle; motivations and actions being principally determined by the needs of the plot. There’s very little to redeem the film outside of the first stretch; even Michael Shannon can only do so much with his take on General Zod. I’d avoid this, and would have concerns about the rest of the DC universe they’re trying to build out. (See my Man of Steel Twitter review).

If you like big monster films and don’t feel they’ve been done well in a long time, Pacific Rim is for you. The plot is dumped through exposition at an alarming rate, a lot of it is clunky, and you’ll see every twist coming a mile away (the pilot that hates the protagonist will eventually grow to respect him? Shock!). That all said, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Unlike many CG films, it manages to deliver action sequences which are exciting but clearly shown (take that, Transformers), and which you can’t help but get involved in despite the fake nature of it. The comic relief between Charlie Day and Ron Perlman is pitched just right to not be annoying, and the stakes rise at just the right pace throughout the film. One of the better action films of the year. (See my Pacific Rim Twitter review).

Finally, The World’s End sees Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite for a comedy simultaneously smaller and much larger than their previous efforts. It follows the reunion of a group of old friends determined to finished a pub crawl in their old home town, when something apocalyptic begins to happen. The details of that, I’ll leave to the film, but the first moment you really see something is wrong is excellent. The remainder of the film is fun but not particularly funny. If you see it as a silly adventure, rather than a pure comedy, then you’ll be okay. Decent.  (See my The World’s End Twitter review).

Tough to call the winner here, but I think I’ll go with Pacific Rim. While The East is a very good film, Pacific Rim edges it as the film I’d most like to see again right now.

Yes, yes, it’s late, I know. For June, we have 5 films in the Film Fight.

First up, The Purge has an interesting enough premise: for one night, the rule of law is suspended in order to allow people to exercise their pent-up emotions. Murder, as you might guess, is rampant, and this goes predictably badly for the protagonists of the piece. The problem with the film is that it can’t seem to settle on what it wants to be: it sets up a social commentary but doesn’t give it the time to breath, instead degenerating into a home invasion horror with just a hint of Funny Games thrown in. If it had focussed on either side, it might have been better, but as-is it’s a predictable and mindless horror. It’s not awful, but you won’t see it again any time soon. (See my The Purge Twitter review).

The Iceman sees Michael Shannon deliver another mesmerising performance as an ice-cold hitman. His paranoia and shady dealings see his life beginning to unravel in ways he can no longer control. It’s not exactly an original story (though it’s based on a true one), but the lead performance makes it worth the admission by itself. Even though some of the supporting cast are notably weak (you’ll want to switch off any time his family appear) and the last section feels rushed, it’s still a great film. (See my The Iceman Twitter review).

Whedon’s first film after The Avengers couldn’t be much more different: Much Ado About Nothing is a timeless take on the Shakespeare play. It is fantastically well-done. The cast, stuffed with Whedon alumni, nail every part, bringing out the wit and comedy of the source material in every scene. It’s beautifully shot, shown in black and white, with nothing extraneous to slow down the pacing. There’s not a moment where you feel that it doesn’t work, and that’s without compromising the play for a modern audience. An excellent film that feels small and perfect. (See my Much Ado About Nothing Twitter review).

I am a big zombie move fan but having heard about the post-production issues with World War Z, I didn’t hold out much hope. I was surprised to find, then, a film that was not without charm. While every character in the film was utterly two dimensional, there merely to service the plot, the whole thing worked quite well as a big, dumb action film. The pacing was frantic for all but the last act, which was a nice little diversion. It’s certainly not a masterpiece, but it was quite fun. (See my World War Z Twitter review).

Finally, This Is The End is the epitome of Judd Apatow style comedies. If you hated or loved Superbad, Knocked Up or Pineapple Express, you’ll feel exactly the same about this. By now, you’ll undoubtedly have heard that it features James Franco, Seth Rogen et al. playing versions of themselves at a party on the fateful night of the apocalypse. Hopefully you won’t have heard about too many of the cameos or the silly ending, as there are some great moments that shouldn’t be spoiled. Again, this film will really depend on how you feel about the cast. I enjoyed it, but if you’ve seen them before you know what you’ll think. (See my This Is The End Twitter review).

The winner for June is Much Ado About Nothing, a flawlessly executed take on a classic. Contender for film of the year.