5 more films for the fight…

Gone Baby Gone is the long delayed directorial debut of Ben Affleck (delayed due to the theme of child kidnapping being a little too close to the bone over the last year), and as debuts go it’s not bad. The mainstay of the plot is reasonable enough: kid gets kidnapped, private investigators who know the locals get involved, there’s more than meets the eye. The performances are for the most part decent, with one outstanding performance put in by Ed Harris; one scene in particular, we see some absolute brilliance in his act. All that said, the film is too clever for its own good. There are too many attempts at pulling the wool over the audiences eyes or twisting a little bit too much for comfort. A shame, because the film is solid, if nothing outstanding.

With the bar set to ridiculously low by Ang Lee’s Hulk, the franchise reboot starring Ed Norton doesn’t really have to work all that hard to improve. The Incredible Hulk is, then, a pleasant surprise, in that it manages to get a lot of things right for the genre. It doesn’t waste time on back story, origins or explaining relationships that are apparent by the interactions, accepting that people know everything they need to know about the Hulk mythos already. It gets moving, keeps a steady enough pace, holds interest, and then plummets with the action sequences towards the end. Sorry, but two CGI monsters who are not grounded in any approachable form of physics break any suspension of disbelief. It had been beating expectations until the final scenes, so to see a mindless fight that turns around for no good reason is a real waste.

Imagine, for a second, taking an entire season of Prison Break and cramming it into 100 minutes; no wasting time on pointless threads that spur things on, no wasted attempts and feeling cheated by do-overs, just the escape: welcome to The Escapist. Although it falls into a Brit crime caper directorial style at times, it manages to show a surprisingly amount of depth and care. The editing is also inspired. While often cutting early parts of a story (chronologically speaking) in amongst the ending is often just an awkward gimmick, cutting the escape and it’s problems in amongst the planning scenes is surprisingly effective. In places that would otherwise be dead weight, tension is kept high. The “But”? The very final moments of the film pull back a needless reveal that cheapens the whole. Without it, it’d be a strong film.

The second of the Narnia films is, unexpectedly, worse than the first entry. Prince Caspian is relatively rich source material (caveats about CS Lewis’ various leanings aside), so it’s disappointing to see such uninspired cinema. We have a largely fluffer plot, terrible performances (some of the kids have gotten worse), dreadful accents, poor CGI battles and an afterthought love interest. If it wasn’t for the cute mice, there’d be next to nothing good to say here. Not worth seeing.

Finally, Wanted is the Hollywood debut of Timur Bekmambetov, previously of Night Watch/Day Watch fame. Based, barely, on a graphic novel of the same name, Wanted is about a fraternity of assassins who follow the path set out by the seemingly random machinations of fate and them bringing someone into the fold who begins to disrupt their way of life. There’s plenty you could do with that as source material but sadly Timur has opted to make yet another piss-poor CGI heavy action yawnfest. The inconsistencies in this film make it painful to watch, the accents are atrocious (I’ve seen James McAvoy act elsewhere, what happened here?), and the whole thing turgid. There’s nothing worthwhile to recommend this film. It fails as an action film, as a story, and on every other level a film can. Awful.

So, despite a regrettable finale, The Escapist is this months winner!

Another month, another 4 films…

Iron Man is the first film in Marvel’s attempt to reboot their film universe, after some fairly awful entries. The failings of this film are the same for most Hollywood action films: they’re made for what is expected to be the lowest common denominator (that great, traditional cinema has a more universal appeal is a debate for another post, but think of something like Goodfellas). The plot is fairly moronic, being nothing more than an attempt to tell the origin story quickly and get onto a series of CGI action sequences and cameos (for other Marvel characters). Big, loud, and fast. As the genre goes, it’s not a terrible entry: Robert Downey Jr. is an inspired choice, even if Tony Stark has gone from obsessive alcoholic genius, the prototypical flawed hero, to brash-but-brilliant, crowd-pleasing asshole. Where it lacks good storytelling, it makes some inroads with the action. Watchable.

The quiet, British indie film, Cashback, has a decent premise: an art student obsesses over the female form (while working in a supermarket), often stopping time to fully indulge his compulsion. It’s left purposefully opaque as to the extent and reality of this talent, flipping back and forth between assuming it’s real or just his imagination. That’s fine though: the frozen time scenes are merely a mechanism for exploring the character, and on that level the film is a success. Cashback suffers from being stretched too thin (perhaps as a result of being an expanded version of a short film) as some of the other characters and the plot lines are shoe-horned in or lack depth, notably his best friend. Still, it’s a decent enough film when it focusses on it’s stronger parts.

Here’s a concept: a horror film where it is abundantly clear that the nemesis, whether ghost, monster or zombie, has the main characters in a place where it can’t be stopped, hurt or, for the most part, seen. Outpost is that movie. You may think that this would make for quite a dramatic, fraught, survival piece but the opposite is true: it lacks tension or scares, and sadly lacks a coherent plot. For some reason, the Nazi ghosts are murdering a group of soldiers who stumble upon an abandoned bunker, making for some of the most conveniently capricious baddies you’re likely to see. They can kill everyone at any time, but stick with one at a time kills until the plot calls for more. There are some decent elements (the creepy pale man) but they’re never utilised as fully as they could be. Relatively weak.

Finally, the much awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shows that even the relatively sacred Indiana Jones franchise is capable of producing an absolute stinker. There is little to like about this film. The story is nonsensical, fan-pleasing hookum in the worst sense. It reads like fan fiction. You expect the author’s favourite band to turn up and high-five Shia LaBeouf (who is awful in this), it’s honestly that bad. The fun, family adventures (occult themes not withstanding) have been replaced by farce. The impeccably solid stunt-work has been replaced by piss weak CGI and ludicrous ideas. The evil ants climb up each other like a cartoon? Shia LeBeouf becomes Tarzan? That accent was supposed to be acting? Tragically bad, and not so tragic that it’s funny either.

The winner for May 2008 is Cashback. It wouldn’t have won in many other months, but it’s core is a good enough film to warrant a watch.

I know, I know, it’s late again. It’s been a fair while since I’ve seen these but let’s crack on anyway.

Funny Games is shot for shot remake of a German film of the same name (by the same director), about the commercialisation and desensitisation of violence in the media. Told through the eyes of a family who are held against their will, it takes us on a fairly dark journey, using some impressively lengthy shots to force us to keep watching. The direction and camera work is pretty flawless throughout, as is the dialogue; perfunctory and sharp. The film is an unerringly focussed on it’s core questions of “Have you seen enough yet?” and “Is this still entertaining?” It succeeds masterfully. Highly recommended.

Rod Hilton has done another excellent job of parodying 21, but I’ll say a little more. What we have here is a good idea, done in the worst possible way. We have a film that is dumbed down as far as it will go: MTV style jump-cuts, paper thin characters, plot holes, awful dialogue, the works. It’s been designed as a music video and, for a film about card counting, that’s not good. Even if you want an easy film, I’d say there’s better fare on offer elsewhere. Avoid!

In Bruges is a bit of an odd mix: ostensibly a comedy, but with a thoroughly dark vein running through it. After a kill gone wrong, two hit men are ordered to hide out in Bruges where they begin to face up to what they’ve done. Had the film continued with that, it could’ve been very good. Sadly, it loses itself exploring the quirky characters they meet and the childish jokes that Colin Farrell’s character passes off as banter. That’s not to say it’s entirely merit less: there are some laughs in here. In a quiet period, it might be worth a look.

As is my obligatory remark for this kind of film, I love zombie films. Spanish horror, Rec, is exactly that. Initially the single point of view handycam style gives it a Blair Witch feel (not a good thing), it quickly settles in. About a siege in an apartment block and the panic that surrounds the resident’s attempts to escape, we see old conceits work remarkably well. The story is nothing more than ordinary (well doled out), but the visual impact is impressive. Horrific in places, reasonably tense, but let down by a weak end sequence. A shame that the last scene lets it slip. Still worth a view.

Finally, Persepolis is an animated film from Iran (redubbed by an impressive American voice cast) following the fall of civil rights in Iran, and the eventual persecution of non-conformists. Told through the eyes of a young girl growing up and eventually viewing her heritage from afar, Persepolis is simultaneously wryly bleak and dimly amusing. The story is a worthwhile one, but often the pacing feels too slow and the feel too quiet. You sympathise with the main character’s plight, but can’t warm to her as a person. Not a terrible failing, but one that makes the film drag more than it could.

The winner for April is Funny Games, a dark vision and a pointed question combined into an excellent piece of cinema.

Over the last week, I’ve very slowly been migrating Solitude (and all other parts of the near enough non-existant VKPS empire) to a new home over at Dreamhost. If you’ve seen anything go wrong, that’s probably why. Comments had been disabled briefly to allow for the move, but should be working now. If you see anything wrong, I’d appreciate if you’d let me know.

Why did I move hosts? My old hosts were great (in that they were very cheap and reasonably reliable) but they weren’t keeping their featureset up to date any more. PHP 4 just doesn’t cut it, and recently I was getting database outages twice a week. That was enough for me to seek out a new host.

By all accounts, except for a few well publicised outages, Dreamhost offer a great package. For £60 a year I got 500Gb of space, 5Tb of bandwidth, subversion, and shell access. Compared to my old package, that is ridiculous.

As I say, any problems with any page, please contact me.

It’s been a busy month for cinema this month, but sadly not a great one, with a lot of mediocrity in there. Anyway…

Waz (actualy W Delta Z) is a fairly terrible film. Two stereotyped detectives (the hard-ass and the rookie) investigate a series of brutal murders that tie inexplicably into an old case. It could’ve been watchable, but what little original material that’s on show is badly fumbled. Instead we get a noir thriller with no snappy dialogue, poor acting, and cliche. By the time you find out why the killer is doing these things the will to care will be long gone. Avoid.

Will Ferrell films that are penned by someone outside of his immediate peers all suffer from the same problem: they’re fun, with some great moments, and generally work as decent comedies, but they pale in comparison to the genuine article. Semi-Pro is no exception. The poker scene, some of Jackie Moon’s show boating, and the fights are brilliantly pitched; the Woody Harrelson love interest sub-plot less so. It’s worth seeing if you’re after a light comedy that won’t necessarily make it as a classic.

While any film featuring both Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman in corsets really doesn’t need anything else, The Other Boleyn Girl disappoints by not really delivering much. The performances are certainly good enough, but the handling of the characters was weak: pitching Anne Boleyn as manipulative and vengeful until the final scenes, and then trying to draw sympathy. Henry VIII’s life and his role in the the reformation becomes trivialised in the pursuit of simplistic cinema, and none of the central characters are interesting enough to garner either respect or pity. Plodding, and somewhat dull.

I’m something of a zombie film fan, so when the master of the genre releases another installment of his landmark series, I pay attention. Sadly, Diary of the Dead is a horrible mistake. It tries, in Romero’s usual style, to show the influence of continued media coverage and always being connected. In small parts, it works and it may have continued to work if it wasn’t dealt with in such a ham-fisted fashion. Instead we have a bunch of whiny twenty-somethings who are very aware of the terrible dialogue they’re saying. The direction, the acting, the message: they all lack the subtlety of earlier films, and the whole film suffers for it.

Saw defined its own little niche in the horror genre that several films recently have tried to dig into; Untraceable is one such effort. It’s terrible and over the top, but just about claws itself into the category of “bad enough to be entertaining”. You won’t care about the victims of the elaborate death machines, you won’t care about the protagonist, and, if you’re technically inclined, you’ll wince at the “hacking” references, but if you can completely switch off and laugh at how bad the film is, you’ll have some breezy entertainment.

After some fairly disappointing animated films lately, it’s a pleasure to watch Horton Hears a Who.Where Bee Movie failed, it manages to balance the light moralising we expect with a fairly entertaining story. The cast are excellent throughout, with both Carey and Carrell performing well, with some excellent gags propping up the film. Of particular note is an animé sequence which had me nearly in tears. Ok, it’s a kid’s film, but it’s also very entertaining. Go see.

In stark contrast to the lightness of the last film is the fairly dark Children of Glory: a Hungarian film about the undefeated water polo team at the time of the Hungarian uprising against Russia. It is at times brilliant, capturing the atmosphere of the time in an effortless manner. At other points, it leaves a lot to be desired, obviously put together on a low budget (not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself if the result works), and focussing too much on the polo at the end. While the team were very important to the Hungarian people, it doesn’t translate well, sapping the last half hour of any real drama. A shame, as there are some very promising moments throughout.

Lars and the Real Girl is a quiet film about a man who, after losing a lot in his life, becomes convinced a rubber doll he buys from the internet is a real person. His town are told that the best way to help is to buy into it and allow him to work it through. If from the synopsis you’re thinking comedy mishaps ensue, you’re largely wrong. While it does have comedy elements, it’s a lot more about the drama and tension around this man and his family. There’s too much dead space here, though, with the typical twee-indie film pace making the lack of weighty plot shine through. An utterly serious film along these lines would’ve faired better, but what we get is a merely ok tale.

Much has been made of the Guillermo Del Toro presented psychological horror film, The Orphanage. Sadly, everything about it is lacking the originality and freshness the genre so badly needs. Take any Japanese horror film (think The Ring, The Eye, The Grudge etc), set it in Spain, and slow the pace some, and you’ll end up with The Orphanage. Again, the pacing is far off where it should be (the medium scenes being particularly dull), and it fails to take advantage of the one great idea it has by recanting it for a more feel-good ending. Rent something scarier, like Poltergeist, before coming to this weak entry.

Finally, The Spiderwick Chronicles follows a bunch of fairly annoying and badly acted children as they embark on a fantastical adventure of monsters and magic. Yes, it’s that trite. Yes, it’s entirely forgettable. No, there’s nothing to redeem it (though the bird-munching Hogsqueal tries). Hopefully this will be forgotten and be buried before sequel talk starts, but I doubt that’ll happen. Not worth seeing.

And the winner? Well, there’s nothing that particularly grabs me this month. Of the 10 films viewed, most were mediocre at best. I think Semi-pro wins by default. While it’s no masterpiece, there’s enough good material here to warrant a repeat viewing at some point and I can’t honestly say that about any of the other films here.