I’m a little sad to say this but for the first time since I started doing Film Fight, and indeed for the first time since I started reviewing films on here, I haven’t actually been to the cinema this month. There’s been a dearth of quality looking films and I simply haven’t made it along to even the few “maybe ok” stragglers.
So this month the winner is…. nothing at all.
The second last film fight of the year brings us another four slices of cinema.
Quantum of Solace fails to win over the audience in all the ways that Casino Royale, it’s immediate predecessor, managed to win so easily two years ago. The gritty realism is shattered by being dressed up in Jason Bourne clothes (no bad thing) and being made to dance for Hollywood physics (the fall from the plane, for example). More importantly it lacks a real plot, with action sequences falling one after the other in lieu of a real narrative. There are too many ideas here that are simply incongrouent to the world that we’re supposed to believe in. The work done so hard not so long ago has been undone. It’s not at Die Another Die levels of awful, but it’s getting perilously close. Avoid.
Kevin Smith has always walked the fine line between gross-out comedy, heartfelt characterisation and intelligent geek banter. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is, in a lot of ways, perfectly in the middle of those concerns, and now that he’s found this balance we realise it’s not exactly what we want. It’s not that Zack and Miri is a bad film; it’s sweet in places, very funny in others, and painfully bad in the remainder. The problem is that it’s not consistently funny throughout, and there are not enough laughs to hold interest. I like Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as the leads, but the chemistry between the two is a little forced. Of note, though, is Justin Long in an early film-stealing cameo. Like some of Smith’s earlier works, this is worth seeing but if you just want the gut laughs, I’d go look at Rogen’s back catalogue first.
Chuck Palahniuk’s excellent Choke has finally been adapted for the big screen (role on Survivor), but manages to disappoint in several ways. The director, rather than cut down the number of plot strands or increase the run time, has taken the bizarre decision to shove everything into the film and hope that it works. It doesn’t. Nothing really seems fully developed: not the relationship with the lead’s mother, not even the reason he chokes every night in the arms of a stranger. Everything is wasted. Stylistically, it’s beautiful. Artistically, Sam Rockwell puts in a very good version of Victor Mancini. Story-wise, it’s all technically there but, as a whole, it’s less than the sum of its parts. A shame.
Finally, The Changeling is the latest from Cliff Eastwood and the first time we’ve seen Angelina Jolie actually act since Girl Interrupted. It’s about a woman who has to fight against authority when they return the wrong boy when her son goes missing. As with all of Eastwood’s films, the cinematography is exceptionally well-done; big, bold, crisp art direction, beautiful lighting, and perfect costume and make-up. Where he falls down is trying to extend the material for a running time longer than it can take. There’s plenty of slack towards the end of the movie that can easily go. Although Jolie is fantastic here, a lot of the supporting cast are given less to work with. The third-tier characters are actually pretty one-dimensional, with tired stereotypes being trotted out a little too often (the hooker with a heart of gold, for example). Small niggles aside, the confident performances and top notch direction make this an excellent movie. Well worth seeing.
The winner is… The Changeling.
I know, I know, it’s a little late, but here’s the five-way film fight for October.
Redbelt is the latest film by playwright-turned-director, David Mamet. It’s a martial arts film about loss, and finding a way to persevere through adversity, while trying to keep true to yourself. If that sounds a little smarter than your average brawler, it should. Mamet continues his line of superior dialogue and characterisation throughout, only really looking a little weak when it comes to the slightly obvious and needlessly feel-good ending. That aside, the film stays true to itself: grim when it needs to be, but light when it can be. Chiwetel Ejiofor puts in a fantastic performance as the lead and proves himself, once again, an actor to keep an eye on. All in all, a film well worth seeing.
Based on the book of the same name, Gomorrah is the story of the modern mafia in some of the poorest cities in Italy. We see this world through a grainy camera in gritty locations, with the cast mostly opting for a naturalistic style. The greatest triumph of this film is just how believable, yet unbelievably horrible, the characters and area portrayed are. That realism coupled with some poor focus and pacing decisions proves to be the downfall of the movie. We follow an array of characters who are, for the most part, dull. Sure, there are some who are involved heavily in the gangland activity, but the film is spread between so many characters that no-one story really gets the chance to shine. For a film that clocks in just under the two and a half hour mark, there’s really very little meat on any of these stories. Disappointing.
The Coen brothers are well-known for plots that really don’t get resolved, but are fun enough journeys that it really doesn’t matter; Burn After Reading continues very much in that spirit. The plot involves the CIA, an ex-agent, some gym workers, a serial adulterer and an array of other oddball characters. The magic comes when you see all these plainly bizarre plot strands come together, but not really finish up. A thoroughly enterataining yarn, with a top notch cast.
I am constantly amazed at how a pretty good young actor like Shia LaBeouf can keep churning out generic Hollywood drivel. In Eagle Eye, however, he has exceeded himself in making awful movies. The plot is some nonsense about terrorising a civilian, seemingly randomly, through a series of set pieces, which start to come together as part of a conspiracy. Sadly, it contains enough plot holes to drive a bus through. The action sequences don’t make up for the story, featuring the worst big-screen excess in the name of entertainment, rather than something more enjoyable. There is nothing to like about this film, from its obvious twists to its painful acting. Don’t go see Eagle Eye.
Finally, Ricky Gervais finally makes his big screen lead debut in Ghost Town, a sweet comedy about a dentist who can see ghosts after an accident. He quickly gets involved in the life of a recent widower, and antics ensue. While, at times, the film is quite heartfelt, it misfires too often to be a good comedy, and makes dumb jokes too much to be romantic. Nothing of the suits it tries to play work, and we’ll left with an awkward mish-mash of genres. It’s not the worst thing you could see, but there are far better films out there. Distinctly average.
The winner is… Redbelt. While I thoroughly enjoyed Burn After Reading, Mamet’s latest work is just a little more interesting, particularly for the lead performance and the dialogue.
I hate seeing those “Sorry, I haven’t been posting much” posts, so it’s with more than a little trepidation that I write one myself to try and explain my two and a half month absence. (I am, in truth, adding this entirely for my own benefit years down the line.) The following things have happened:
I’d like to say that it won’t happen again, but we all know it will. I do, however, have a reasonably large selection of ideas that I want to write about in the near future so hopefully it’ll be a little less barren here. Look out for the remainder of 2008’s Film Fights, and the Film Fight Finale in the next few days.
Any time, after a little to long on a branch, that I go to merge back to trunk, I seem to forget the magic steps involved in making this easy. For my own reference, tag the head of the branch and then:
`
svn log http://example.com/url/to/branch --stop-on-copy
` … will get us the revision that the branch happened from. Let’s say it’s 27101. `
svn diff -r27101:HEAD http://example.com/url/to/branch --summarize
` … will let us know of all the files that have changed between that revision and the head of the branch. Then you’re free to take a trunk check-out and do a merge with full knowledge of what’s happened.