Film Review - Red State

Kevin Smith is back! Easily his best film for a decade, Red State demonstrate a real ballsiness and confidence like we've never seen from him before. His directorial style has picked up a few new tricks, and they're used surprisingly effectively, reminding me at times of Tarantino at his best, Inglourious Basterds in particular. He rackets up the tension, the action, the claustrophobia with a deftness he's never shown before.

However, it's not all great news. Things begin to get a bit tedious and repetitive in the second half, thanks to shoot-out after shoot-out after tedious bloody shoot-out, followed by a sudden Coen-brothers-style interruption where we're told the story's ending, rather than see it for ourselves. Comparisons to Burn After Reading may be considered a compliment to some, but not to me.

But we are talking minor niggles here. If Kevin Smith hadn't shot himself in the foot by recently pissing off both film critics and distributors, this might have been his best shot at Oscar glory. The screenplay is one of his best- considered and intelligent, with his trademark base humour down a necessary, effective minimum. But the cast are flawless. Melissa "fucking" Leo outdoes her Oscar-winning turn in The Fighter by a long shot, Michael Parks is terrifyingly sincere and John Goodman grounds things superbly. Even the bit players get so show off some highly convincing acting chops.

Genuinely unpredictable, but nowhere near as unpalatable as you might expect.

(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - The Debt

I must admit I started this with an air of trepidation, having recently been burned by a spy film (Tinker, Tailor, bored already...) and as the film begins with approximately three timelines running at once, I began to fear the worst.

Fortunately, it was not to be. The opening was merely one of those Inception/Matrix head-f*** beginnings that makes sense only at the end. And by this time I'd spent a good hour or so holding my breath with suspense, cross-legged, afraid to miss anything during a loo break. The loose ends are nicely tied (but not too neatly), and I left the cinema one satisfied punter.

On the negative side, I do wish I'd seen the original (Israeli?) film upon which this is based, as the performances here are, at best, mixed. Yes, Helen Mirren is a national treasure and Sam Worthington does an adorable furrowed brow like nobody else. But those accents... I think Dame Helen was supposed to be Russian (she failed), but Sam's was downright indistinguishable, no doubt more so when he was speaking German.


(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - Abduction

When Alfred Hitchcock made North By Northwest, it was basically an excuse for the various exciting set-pieces to appear in one film, and the plot was incidental. Somehow, it worked. That template has been used by Hollywood ever since, ad infinitum, with varying degrees of success (Mr. Bond, I'm looking at you in particular).

Abduction is one example when it doesn't work. It's basically an excuse to get Taylor Lautner to fight, run/ jump/ slide around, fire guns, and snog; shirt optional. All of which he does rather well.

But the story supposedly tying it all together puts the "guff" into "MacGuffin". Ten seconds into the action and I wanted every immature irresponsible "character" on-screen to get some kind of hideous comeuppance. Unfortunately, that fate was destined to be mine.

Okay, so the action scenes are well-done, and Sigourney Weaver & Jason Isaacs are welcome on my cinema screen any time. Lautner does an adequate job with what he's been given, but it's far from the new Bourne. But at least it's not as bad as the similarly-premised Hanna.


(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - Crazy, Stupid, Love

One of the best romcoms for years. Well cast, acutely observed and, most importantly, funny.

Yes it loses a star for falling foul of the romcom cliches (most irritatingly the big misunderstanding followed by the big public declaration of love) and of course you know how it's all going to end (well, mostly). However, as I've said before (with romcoms in particular), it ain't the destination, it's the ride, and this one had me grinning throughout.

Carell and Gosling make for a well-matched odd couple, and even Julianne Moore manages flashes of believability. But the undoubted star (again) is Emma Stone, who, based on this evidence, could even charm me into bed.

(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - The Inbetweeners

So I've finally gotten around to seeing the UK box-office record-breaking sensation. And... It's alright.
I like The Inbetweeners TV show, in the way that it makes me chuckle once in a while, and its characters - who are as irritating as they are loveable - are scarily familiar.
Having lived through the years 18-30, the prospect of reliving them via such a holiday is no longer as appealing to me as it might have been at the time, so maybe I'm not quite the target audience. The acting is like well dodgy and the jokes are more cringe than LOL, but this is basically just an extended episode; no better, no worse.

(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

It's not you, it's me. You lost me at "hello".

This might as well have been set to a foreign language audio track, without subtitles, and set to "shuffle" for all the sense it made to me. Familiar face after familiar face are presented (rather than introduced) on-screen as their names, roles, relationships, etc. appear far too trivial for such a complex piece. Unfortunately, such information is absolutely essential for me to follow such a film, so the second they mention someone and you ask yourself "which one's that?", you're pretty much tapped on the shoulder and asked to leave the dancefloor, as from thereon in you don't stand a chance.

I literally (and I literally mean LITERALLY) cannot remember ever caring less about anyone or anything on-screen. I may as well have been watching football. I can't say I hated it, as not one character was interesting enough to hate, let alone root for. There was a moment I would have happily given Tom Hardy a big "there there" hug, but it likely had little to do with the film. The only time I perked up over the tedious two hours was when I realised Benedict Cumberbatch reminded me of the alien from Close Encounters.

The film looks gorgeous- the direction is beautiful and patient. Unfortunately I'm not. Not without some kind of pay-off, anyway. Director Alfredson's previous film, the sublime Let The Right One In, had a similar directorial approach. However, that film had an emotional core, an involving narrative, intriguing characters and multiple pay-off moments that rewarded your patience. This has none of the above.

I'm not trying to persuade anybody this is a bad film. I'm sure it isn't and would happily put money on it now to win Best Picture at next year's Oscars (and I'll bet my life on the BAFTAs). If it worked for you, good for you, you must be cleverer than I am. For me, I'd have to say the emperor had no clothes on.

If only...

(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.

Film Review - Fright Night (2011)

A surprisingly decent vampire movie, something that is extremely rare. It gets the tone just right, with the exception of David Tennant's character, whose comedic character appears to have wandered in from a different film. I haven't seen the original (yet) so can't compare, but whilst this was decent, I can't see me watching it again.