A Look Back At The Fast And The Furious Story So Far.

I recently wrote a retrospective for Hey U Guys looking at the Fast and the Furious movies thus far in preperation for this weekend's release of Fast and the Furious Six.

Truth be told, up until very recently, not only had I not seen a single The Fast and the Furious movie, I wasn’t really in any great rush to do so either. I’d heard from various sources that the first outing was an over the top piece of guilty fun, but after that they all kind of tailed off. That all changed however when Fast Five came out in 2011 to extremely warm critical reviews.

You can read the full article by clicking below:
Hey U Guys : A Journey Through The Fast And The Furious Story So Far.

Movie Review : Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers has undeniably benefited from the media hubbub surrounding the fact that it involves several former Disney starlets in extremely against-type roles. However to simply write it off as cheap titillation selling itself purely on the chance to ogle pretty young things in bikinis would be doing the film a great disservice. While it is not without its faults, it does have a wonderfully dark undercurrent and an eye-catching day-glo visual style.

The film sees four college girls Faith (Selena Gomez), Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), and Cotty (Rachel Korine), desperately making plans to get away from their drab normal lives and let loose on spring break. Severely lacking in cash however, Brit, Candy and Cotty decide to hold up a restaurant in order to get the funds for their trip. Practising Christian Faith, while not involved in the heist, willingly accepts the dirty money and ignores her religious friends’ pleas to be careful around her dangerous party pals. The foursome head off to Florida with their ill-gotten gains and embark on a booze and drug-fuelled series of parties. When the good times finally go bad and the four get arrested, they are bailed out by James Franco’s gangster turned rapper Alien. From here the girls enter into a shady world of crime and excess and it becomes increasingly unclear as to whether they will ever escape, or indeed if they even want to.

Spring Breakers was half an extremely good film. The first half was just a little too sleazy and garish in an MTV Goes Wild, Ibiza Uncovered, “can we make these girls jiggle a bit more?” sort of way. The second half however was far more entertaining and was instead a sleazy and garish film in a dark, scuzzy and twisted southern gothic sort of way. Once the crazy shit starts hitting the narrative fan, the film becomes immeasurably better.  Arguably of course you need the earlier scenes in order to set up the later ones and give them such a pronounced impact, but this doesn’t make the sight of American kids getting drunk and naked any more interesting. The film eventually descends into a woozy hallucinogenic dream of sorts with Korine employing several little tricks to create a very distinct atmosphere. Dialogue regularly gets looped over the striking imagery and events unfold in a distinctly scattergun fashion over the pulsating soundtrack.

There are however a fair few ‘Sinead O’Rebellion’ moments where the film seems to be screaming at you, “LOOK….Look what we have her doing now!” After a while though, the films sleazy aesthetic takes over and you get used to the non-stop sordid imagery and stop focusing on the actresses playing the roles and instead just go along with the ride. The four girls all put in strong performances but its Franco’s unforgettable take on sleazy criminal Alien that steals the show. His gaudy house, complete with an arsenal of weapons and piano out by the pool, is itself a site to behold. A memorable scene where he vigorously implores the girls to “look at all ma’ shit” is strangely hypnotic, and another where he leads the balaclava-clad girls in a rendition of a Britney song out by the pool is truly captivating moment.  

It’s hard to really pin down the point of Spring Breakers. It’s the sort of film that you think is going to have some sort of deeper meaningful message but after watching it, its hard to really point to anything of note. There are nods towards the idea of making a better life for yourself and of wanting to be somebody different, but that is only really loosely brought up during the girls’ phone calls home to the real world. There is at the film’s heart the idea of the destructive American Dream, the pursuit of wealth and excess above all else, but again, this is merely on the surface and not tackled in any meaningful way. I’ve seen some people talk bout the film attempting to capture the morally bankrupt and desensitised nature of America’s youth, but for me even that is a surface issue that never really gets explored in any detail.

 In the end though, I’m not sure any of that really matters. The story is basically a dirty little crime movie that just happens to star four attractive young ladies in the lead roles.  It’s visually arresting, hauntingly atmospheric and incredibly memorable.  The surreal nature of the film and its part melancholic, part euphoric tone, makes for a unique experience that certainly lingers on after the film has finished.

8/10

Six of the Best : Martin Scorsese

I recently compiled a list of my favourite six Martin Scorsese films for the good folks at Hey U Guys. Have a read and see what you think:

There are few directors still plying their trade today who can rival Martin Scorsese when it comes to the quality and variety of their filmography. The native New Yorker has frequently created brutal and violent stories featuring deeply flawed and morally questionable protagonists, covering such sombre subjects as guilt, greed, machismo and mental instability along the way. However, despite these dark elements which give his work such an incisive edge; his movies are always energetic and vibrant affairs and represent pure escapist cinema at its best.

You can read the full article by clicking below:
Hey U Guys : Martin Scorsese

Movie Review : Room 237

I recently reviewed 'The Shining' documentary Room 237 for the folks at Flick Feast:

Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 is a documentary film showcasing several different theories surrounding Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining as extolled by obsessive fans of the movie. Each one has their own unique take on what the great director was really trying to say in the film with the notoriously meticulous Kubrick seemingly lacing his movie with a myriad of hidden messages and meanings. The end result is an enjoyable glance at some obscure interpretations of The Shining, even if the analysis offered won’t be firmly convincing anyone anytime soon.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
Flick Feast : Room 237

Movie Review : Starbuck

I recently reviewed Canadian comedy Starbuck for Flick Feast:

Starbuck is the story of David Wozniak, an affable slacker who struggles to live as a responsible adult. He owes money to some unsavoury sorts, continually messes up at his meat delivery job and appears to regularly let down his family. Amidst this chaos his girlfriend announces she is pregnant but is unsure as to whether David is responsible enough to truly be the baby’s father, a fact which prompts David to question his wayward lifestyle.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
Flick Feast : Starbuck 

Movie Review : Stoker

I recently reviewed Stoker for What Culture:

Park Chan-wook’s English-language debut is a creepy and stylish psychological thriller which combines tense Hitchcockian mystery elements with distinctly horror orientated flourishes.

Mia Wasikowska stars as quiet and reclusive India Stoker, a teenage outcast who lives with her unstable mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) in their secluded mansion after the tragic death of her father. As they are mourning their loss, the dangerously charming character of Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) enters into their lives. Charlie is the mysterious brother of India’s deceased father and neither mother nor daughter seems to know a great deal about him. Nevertheless Evelyn invites him into their home and he immediately sets about ingratiating himself with both women. From the moment of his arrival we sense that Charlie has an ulterior motive for his actions and that something dark lurks behind the friendly smiles and seductive manner he adopts towards Evelyn and India. As he grows closer to them both, hints are dropped as to his true nature and things rapidly escalate towards a shocking conclusion.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
What Culture : Stoker

Movie Review : Here Comes The Boom

I recently reviewed the Kevin James vehicle Here Comes The Boom for Flick Feast:

Chances are that for many of us, the prospect of a Kevin James star vehicle produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Production Company isn’t exactly going to set our pulses racing. After all, it really is saying something when Paul Blart: Mall Cop is the highlight on your cinematic CV. Here Comes The Boom however is by no means anything to fear and on the broad spectrum of modern day American comedies, it sits pretty solidly in the ‘just slightly below average’ category.

You can read the full review by clicking below:

Flick Feast : Here Comes The Boom

Movie Review : Dracula (1958)

A short while ago I reviewed the classic horror movie Dracula, starring Christopher Lee in the lead role, which has recently been released on Blu-ray for the first time.

One of the jewels in the Hammer Studio crown, Terence Fisher’s colourful and camp take on Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula is soon to be released on Blu-ray crisper, brighter and longer than ever before. Dracula has been restored once previously by the BFI and was re-released as recently as 2007. Since then however, Hammer have located a long presumed lost print of an extended, more explicit version of the film in the National Film Centre in Tokyo Japan.  This extra footage, which includes an even more graphic disintegration scene at the film’s climax, has been given a magnificent polish and the film arrives in truly pristine condition.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
Flick Feast : Dracula 

Movie Review : Cloud Atlas

Sometimes there’s so much coverage of a movie prior to its release that you can’t help but build up certain preconceptions in your head. The Wachowski siblings latest movie, an adaptation of David Mitchell’s smash hit novel Cloud Atlas which they direct as a trio with Tom Tykwer, has clearly polarised critics and audiences alike. It hasn’t fared too well in the States and is hardly pulling up any trees at the UK box office either. Going in to watch it, I tried to put all preconceptions out of my mind and approach it with a clean slate, but to be honest I feared the worst. Would it be the bloated and ostentatious mess several prominent critics had billed it as? After the credits rolled, I sat back to compute the three hours of time-hopping romance-laden drama and can safely say, I actually rather enjoyed it.

To do a succinct plot synopsis of Cloud Atlas is a challenge in itself but here goes nothing. The movie, like its source material, consists of six interwoven stories spanning six distinct time periods. The book itself operates in a Russian doll style format and works chronologically upwards from the oldest story set in 1849, revealing just half of each arc right up to the one set furthest in the future of 2321. After resolving that final story in its entirety, the novel then works its way back down the years resolving each arc as it goes. The movie meanwhile tackles all six stories at once and intercuts between each one unravelling a little bit more of each tale as we go. The six stories are as follows:

1849: The story of Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess), a young lawyer who is travelling home to America via ship after concluding a business deal for his slave trading father in law.

1936: A bisexual young musician, Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) travels to Edinburgh to begin work with an elderly composer.

1973: An intrepid journalist, Luisa Rey (Halle Berry), starts to uncover a shady conspiracy regarding a potentially unsafe nuclear reactor in California.

2012: A book publisher, Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent) is forced into hiding after being threatened by the thuggish brothers of one of his authors. His own estranged brother tricks him into hiding out at a nursing home where he is kept against his will.

2144: In futuristic Neo-Seoul, a genetically-engineered fabricant, Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), is recounting her captor with the story of how she was freed from servitude by an underground band of revolutionaries who are fighting back against the oppressive regime.

2321: Set after a cataclysmic event has befallen Earth, a villager in a primitive society, Zachary (Tom Hanks), faces a daily fight for survival due to roaming cannibalistic tribesman. His life is changed by the arrival of a ‘Prescient’ who believes there is a communications device close to the village that can send a message to an off-world colony for help.

I’ve barely touched the surface there of what each story entails, but to go into much greater detail would frankly just be frustrating for both of us. As each story develops you get a sense that each of our central characters is embroiled in a quest for freedom in some form. Whether it’s opposing slavery, longing for sexual freedom, escaping deranged Hugh Grant cannibals or just being free from a tyrannical nursing home regime, there’s a fight for liberty and justice in some format.

Other themes and motifs also crop up throughout the film. In particular, the concept of reincarnation and the existence of past and future lives is of pivotal importance. The central cast crop up in basically every story arc and there are various nods and winks to their actions in previous lives when they do. Some of these reincarnations are easy to spot, Tom Hanks looks like Tom Hanks no matter what prosthetics are used. However, when after the credits they reveal who each actor played, in each time period, there are definitely a few you may have missed. Whereas some characters are seemingly always inherently good souls, others are inherently evil with Hugh Grant and Hugo Weaving always playing dislikeable and evil characters respectively. There are exceptions to this rule however, most prominently in Tom Hanks whose characters go on a bit more of a journey in that regard.

The idea of each life influencing another is also cleverly hinted at by having each earlier story directly influence the one following it. So Adam Ewing’s diaries influence Robert Frobisher when he finds them at the elderly composer’s home, just as his letters to tortured lover Rufus Sixsmith then go on to influence Luisa Rey.

Amongst the various other threads running through the narrative, there is also an emphasis placed on love and destiny and the idea that two people can be bound to one another for all eternity.  Now, at this stage, you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of movie you’re dealing with here. There are a lot of weighty themes in the melting pot and no single one is really prioritised over any others. I know this has been a source of contention with some viewers who felt that it was too messy and scattershot with its approach. For me though, I really enjoyed this fairly unique approach taken by the directing team. They clearly left a great deal open to interpretation and leave it largely up to the viewer to join up the dots themselves.  If you want a clear-cut answer to ‘what does it all mean? You are in for a disappointment. However if you let yourself get absorbed in the audacious story on show and just accept that you won’t put all the pieces together first time, it’s a strangely captivating mosaic of human stories looking at the manner in which we all interconnect.

That isn’t to say however that the film is without its flaws. The jarring shift in tone between the stories, seafaring adventure one minute, light-hearted British sitcom the next, dystopian science fiction eyegasm the one after that, can be a little alienating. I personally didn’t mind it so much, but I completely understand why this would be a negative point for some people as it does make it slightly harder to become overly invested in any one story.

Then there’s the issue of having the principal cast play a variety of races and genders. Some of the time, it works fine, others…..not so much.  For example, Ben Whishaw doesn’t convince as a middle aged woman and Jim Sturgess doesn’t really pull off a Korean man too well. While it is fun trying to work out who each actor is playing in any given section, it also proves something of a distraction as you spend a fairly large mount of time focusing on who’s playing who and as a result the story can occasionally fade into the background slightly.

Overall though, there’s far more of Cloud Atlas that works than there is that doesn’t. It can be a little cliché at times and could even be deemed a tad over-indulgent, but as a spectacle it kept me engaged for nearly three hours and kept me thinking long after the credits had rolled. Visually stunning and narratively complex, it's a bold, high-concept Sci-Fi drama that will no doubt reward upon repeat viewings.

7/10

Movie Review : Alexander Revisited

Despite the critical mauling it received, I was genuinely looking forward to finally watching Oliver Stone's Alexander. Not only am I a big Oliver Stone fan in general but secondly I'm also a sucker for a good historical epic. Somehow though I'd never gotten round to watching Stone's biopic of Alexander The Great and I felt it was high time I rectified this.

A bit of internet research informed me that while the theatrical cut was poorly received and the later director's cut slightly less so, it was the all-singing, all-dancing 'Alexander Revisited' which deserved my attention. This was Stone's final attempt at delivering his finalised vision for the film, a near four hour effort complete with David Lean-esque intermission.

I got the Blu-Ray and settled in for an evening's viewing.

From here, it all slowly (and boy, do I mean slowly) began to unravel. I really wanted to like this film, my love of Stone and penchant for overly long 'swords and sandals' sagas ensured I went in with a fully open mind, but the end result was every bit as disappointing as the critics had suggested.

Despite a near four hour run time, the story still seems to be trying to cram too much in. Alexander the Great did a lot in his short time on this planet, and Stone rather foolishly tries to fit it all in. Yet even something as exciting as a master military commander leading his army across the known world and conquering all before him  can be boring when you see just two so-so battle scenes and fill the rest of the time with Alexander and his army frolicking and pontificating over whether they should go home. I'd say 75% of this film is spent with Alexander and his generals having extremely melodramatic debates about whether they should return to their homeland. Surely there’s something more cinematically interesting to be showing us?

Every conversation is said in an extremely earnest manner, almost as if the actor delivering it is also auditioning for a Shakespearean play at the same time. Stone was clearly wanting to make a deadly serious and dramatic biopic, but it's almost like he went too far with it and packed in far too much wordy exposition rather than actually showing us any events. There is a lot of scenes with men, women and men/women standing around and debating, which is fine in small doses, but for four hours it gets a little repetitive.

Other than Colin Farrell's Alexander, the mass of other characters never really gets much in the way of development. Good luck trying to learn each of their names by the way. They are barely ever mentioned and when they do its said at breakneck speed and assume you already know your Crateros from your Cleitus. If you weren't referring to them as 'the hound from Game of Thrones' or 'the one with the ridiculously well-kempt black hair', then you're a far more observant viewer than I. These characters trudge around after Alexander, argue with him a bit, scowl and then fade back into the background. The effect of which is that you never really care for them or understand their motivations.

Farrell is fine in the lead role, nothing particularly extraordinary, but nothing especially disastrous either. He suffers as much as everyone else with the woeful dialogue he is forced to deliver but he does at least convince as an inspiring leader of men. The portrayal of Alexander as a bi-sexual, immaculately coiffed and eye-liner wearing character did not go down well in his native Greece, but credit to Stone and Farrell for not holding back in delivering a n Alexander that is arguably fully in-line with the sexual practices of the time (as is my very basic understanding of Greek history. Apologies if I’m a million miles off the mark here).  Meanwhile both Val Kilmer and Angelina Jolie have fairly thankless roles as Alexander’s parents and have little to do other than fill stereotypes whenever they are onscreen.  Val gives plenty of generic drunken oaf and Jolie pouts and smoulders, smoulders and pouts, as much as she possibly can.

Then there are the accents. Now, obviously, they aren't all going to be speaking ancient Greek, but some consistency would be nice. We get Irish, Scottish, English, even the odd dash of American thrown into the mix.....whereas Angelina Jolie is seemingly doing 'generic mysterious Mediterranean accent #4'. I realise this is the least of the film’s worries, but I felt it was distracting enough to be worth pointing out.

Stone is a proven quality director, the man made Platoon and JFK lest we forget, he is no fool. However even basic artistic decisions, like having the footage turn crimson for a good ten minutes after Alexander is stabbed in battle, is just a massive misfire. It looks woeful and ruins what was, I imagine a fairly expensive battle sequence.  Speaking of which, as I mentioned earlier, there are only two battle sequences in this movie, both of which are fairly disappointing. The early battle against the far larger Persian army may win points for authenticity thanks to the almost blinding sand storm that gets kicked up by the rumpus, but it doesn't really help make the events any clearer to follow. If it wasn't for on-screen titles telling us we are watching "Macedonian Left Flank' I really wouldn't have known what was going on.

Ultimately, the biggest criticism I can level at the film is that it is just plain boring.  I am basically the target audience for this movie, hell; I quite liked the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven, I’m that guy. However Alexander made Kingdom of Heaven look like cinematic dynamite. It plods along and never really says a great deal other than "look how far he trudged" and "look how sick of trudging his men were".

I doff my cap to Stone for his efforts. It really is a glorious failure. He aimed incredibly high and missed terribly. There's a fitting quote at the end of the film when Anthony Hopkins (didn't catch his character name and choose not to look it up) says "his failures tower over other's successes". It's perhaps a little hyperbolic to relate this quote about Alexander to Stone, but it certainly rings slightly true in the case of such an audacious failure that will undoubtedly go down in history, if unfortunately for the wrong reasons.

Alexander Revisited, never before has it taken so long to say so little about so much.

4/10

¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival 2013

TheViva Spanish and Latin American Film Festival has once again returned to Manchester's Cornerhouse cinema and as ever there's a plethora of diverse movies on offer. I recently had chance to preview a few of this year's films and you can read my thoughts over at New Empress:

New Empress : Viva Festival 2013

For further screening information and the like visit the Cornerhouse website: Cornerhouse Viva 2013

Cofilmic Writing and Selling TV Comedy Showcase

The good people at Cofilmic are holding another showcase of work generated by their Writing and Selling TV Comedy course. Held at Manchester's 3 Minute Theatre on the 19th March, it's a great chance to see fresh new comedy performed live by top comedy actors. Tickets are free as well, though donations are greatly appreciated.

If you're interesting in attending the next Cofilmic Writing and Selling TV Comedy course, the fourth set of sessions starts on the 6th April and you can sign up now and see your work performed at the next showcase.

Details on the 19th March event can be found here: Cofilmic third comedy showcase.

Details on the next course starting on the 6th April can be found here: Writing and Selling TV Comedy

Movie Review : Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin is a violent crime caper that strives to be a clever and twisting revenge thriller but which ultimately feels a little unsatisfying and predictable.

Broadly speaking it's a film built around a case of mistaken identity as a normal guy (Josh Hartnett)  gets caught in an escalating feud between two warring gangsters. Thrown into the mix is the story of a 'long-con' and Bruce Willis' assassin who appears to be playing both sides.

There are some good things about Slevin, the dialogue rattles along nicely and most of the leads put in a decent if unremarkable shift. Willis is on auto-pilot but Hartnett is charming and affable, Lucy Liu perky and endearing and both Morgan Freeman and Sir Ben Kingsley are convincing as hardened old gangland bosses. However it still just feels a little deflating come the point about two thirds of the way through the movie where the big reveal is made. The exact details of which I will of course not go into here.

Now, I'm not saying a movie can't be predictable and has to have a big clever twist in order to satisfy, but when a film bills itself as a mystery thriller and clearly so badly wants its big reveal to be a Keyser Soze moment, you better have the twist to back that up. Slevin emphatically doesn't.

Slevin draws on many key influences to generate its pulpy crime milieu, Pulp Fiction, Usual Suspects and even Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock/Snatch. The end result doesn't come anywhere near to living up to those genre classics but it is nevertheless s a perfectly watchable piece of forgettable crime fluff.

6/10

Movie Review : McCullin

I recently reviewed the sobering documentary McCullin for Hey U Guys:

Cullin is an unflinching documentary looking at the extraordinary work of renowned photojournalist Don McCullin. Through the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, McCullin was on the front line of some of the world’s most brutal and bloody wars, armed only with his trusty camera, he continually put himself in grave danger and witnessed some truly horrific sights in order to bring the true nature of war home to the UK public.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
Hey U Guys : McCullin

Movie Review : Rust and Bone

I recently reviewed the rather excellent Rust and Bone for Flick Feast:

The last movie from French director Jacques Audiard’s was the rather magnificent A Prophet, a vicious and unflinching tale of life in a French prison. It was a visceral and powerful movie which was brutally realistic in its portrayal of violence and survival.  With Rust and Bone, he once again harnesses this intense realism but channels it into an all the more passionate and romantic story that is nevertheless every bit as unflinching as his previous work.

You can read the full review by clicking below:
Flick Feast : Rust and Bone