Charlie Wilson's War

Thursday 20th March 2014

Director: Mike Nichols
Year: 2007
Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Charlie Wilson's War has a lot more talking in it than I anticipated. It's been sitting waiting for me to watch it for ages, and whilst I did want to see it, there was always something that looked more appealing on my movie list. After having watched it, that's still a fairly good analysis of how I feel about the movie.

Tom Hanks plays Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman who gets involved in the Russia/ Afghanistan conflict. In order to help Afghanistan fight back, he manages to acquire millions of American dollars. It's an interesting story, and not one I knew much about before watching this. But I feel like I could have learnt the same things from a book, and probably found the learning process more enjoyable.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Senna

Thursday 6th February 2014

Director: Asif Kapadia
Year: 2010
Stars: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams (as themselves)

I'm not a particularly big Formula 1 racing fan. I know all the names, and a lot of the history, because certain members of my family are. That's not why I wanted to watch this documentary though. The reviews had been very positive, and I was intrigued to learn more about an event that happened when I was really quite young.

Senna didn't disappoint. Now, I suspect that if you were a die-hard F1 fan back at the time that this was playing out, you'd know the majority of this already, and there woudn't be a lot you'd miss by not watching this. But the movie isn't really about racing at all. It's about one man's life, and everything that goes with that. The movie does a good job of not making Senna a martyr - he clearly wasn't, and the documentary is obviously trying to portray this.

As good as Senna is, it's an odd tale. That's not really the filmmakers fault - this is, after all, a documentary, so they can't change history. But considering all that has come before (the fights, the reckless driving, the desire to succeed at all costs), the circumstances surrounding Senna's death (I can't imagine I'm giving away the ending here) seem a bit, well, flat. If this was a fiction, you would be wondering why the hell they chose to end it that way.

As it is, you wonder if the filmmakers have just failed to get across whatever point they were trying to make. Or if there never really was a point to make - short of "racing's a bit dangerous, isn't it?" An intriguing movie, and a well told story. If a slightly bizarre one.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Saving Mr Banks

Thursday 12 December 2013

Director: John Lee Hancock
Year: 2013
Stars: Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Annie Rose Buckley, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Bradley Whitford, B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman

For me, this was a rare, rare treat. I had the day off work, I had been Christmas shopping in the morning, and had the afternoon all to myself. I haven't been to the cinema since the summer. So where do you think I was headed? It almost didn't matter whether the movie was any good or not.

I had been quite keen to see a Christmas-themed movie, but the only thing like that that seemed to be showing was Frozen. Having watched the trailers for both that and Saving Mr Banks, Frozen wasn't my first choice. Added to all this, upon entering the cinema I discovered that Saving Mr Banks was on in the fancy Director's Hall. I was excited, bemused and scared by this in equal measure. I'd never been in the fancy bit of this cinema before, but I figured this was a one-off treat, so why not? Besides, it was the middle of the afternoon so it still wasn't any more expensive than a standard evening cinema ticket.

'But what about the movie?' I hear you cry. 'Was it any good?'. Turns out, luckily, yes. Saving Mr Banks is all about how Mary Poppins made it to the big screen. Emma Thompson plays P.L.Travers, the author of the book, who took a long time to agree to the movie being made, and even then had a lot of stipulations. Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney, the man who eventually made it happen.

Hanks is perfect casting as Disney, playing the role with aplomb. Emma Thompson also does well, and I can't think of a weak link in the supporting cast either. This could easily have been overly sentimental, and, whilst it has its sentimental moments, it doesn't over-indulge.

It might just be my euphoria at actually having a spare afternoon to go to the cinema in, but I really enjoyed Saving Mr Banks and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. If you want a feel-good movie at Christmas without the fake snow and Christmas lights, this isn't a bad choice.

Rating: 4 out of 5

A Mighty Heart: Film # 157 of Film 365

Wednesday 9th May 2012

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Year: 2007
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi

This started out fairly well. Futterman plays Danny Pearl, a journalist who is in Pakistan with his pregnant wife. About twenty minutes into the movie, he is kidnapped by terrorists. The first half an hour shows great promise and I thought I might be in for a well-told, enjoyable movie.

The next hour follows Dan's wife Mariane (Jolie), and the group of people who try to help her find her husband, work out why he has been kidnapped, and get him released. And that's all that happens. Now, I know this is a true story, and more than once I felt as if I should really care more than I did- but for me the film just dragged.

In the final half an hour, we find out what has happened to Danny. I know I'm meant to care, and care a lot more than I did. I can certainly empathise and feel the way I'm meant to - but that's because I know this is a true story, not because the film made me feel this way. Somehow I just expected more.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Nowhere Boy: Film #147 of Film 365

Wednesday 28th March 2012

Director: Sam Taylor-Wood
Year: 2009
Stars: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff

Another movie that I've been meaning to watch for some time, but hadn't quite got around to yet. I had hopes that Nowhere Boy would be pretty good, as it had been recommended by a friend when it was first released.

Nowhere Boy tells the tale of John Lennon before he became famous, focusing on his relationship with his aunt and his mother. It's not something I knew very much about, never having been an especially big John Lennon fan.

However, it's an enjoyable, interesting film - and the fact that it's about John Lennon is, in some ways, irrelevant. Nowhere Boy is primarily about people's relationships, and how they are never as simple as we would like them to be. Thankfully, whether or not you are a John Lennon fan doesn't really matter - although you are, of course, more likely to know the details of this story already if you are a fan.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Skin: Film #146 of Film 365

Saturday 24th March 2012

Director: Anthony Fabian
Year: 2008
Stars: Sophie Okonedo, Alice Krige, Sam Neill, Tony Kgoroge

After nearly a month, I finally found the time to sit down and watch one of the many movies we still have recorded and waiting to be watched. I didn't want anything too long, so Skin looked like an interesting enough drama that fitted the bill.

Skin is based on the true story of a black girl, Sandra Laing (Okonedo), who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa in the 1950s. Unsurprisingly, then, this film is all about the effects of apartheid, and how Sandra suffered because of the rules in place in South Africa at the time.

Skin is a very emotional film, and at times made me properly angry that this is something that was happening less than 50 years ago. But then, that's the point. It's a very engaging story, and well played by all the actors involved. Sam Neill was especially convincing as Abraham Laing, Sandra's father.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Into the Wild: Film # 137 of Film 365

Friday 10th February 2012

Director: Sean Penn
Year: 2007
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Vince Vaughn, Brian H. Dierker, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook

Into the Wild was part of a TV premiere double bill on Film Four, showing on the same night as Far North. Both films focus on Alaska, or at least somewhere in the Arctic (in the case of Far North). They are also both what my family might define as "Annie movies" - that is to say, movies that can be rather slow, with a lot of cinematography and sparse dialogue. Far North displays a lot more of these traits than Into the Wild, but both movies have them. Beyond this though, the movies are very different.

However, I can understand why some people might struggle with Into the Wild. Part of me was expecting to as well, but it turned out that I ended up really enjoying the movie. I found the tale intriguing (even more so for it being a true story), and whilst there were a lot of scenery and landscape shots, to me they felt as if they added to the story and helped create the right atmosphere. Into the Wild is all about Chris McCandless (Hirsch), a 23-year old who goes on road trip across the US to find himself, and ends up planning to spend time alone in the wilderness in Alaska. It's an involving story with something interesting to say about human nature, and, in my opinion at least, worth making an effort to watch.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Iron Lady: Film # 132 of Film 365

Saturday 28th January 2012

Director: Phyllidia Lloyd
Year: 2011
Stars: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd

I wasn't expecting much from this. I had agreed to go to the cinema to see it as some friends had expressed an interest, but I was pretty sure I was going to get a fluffy movie that wasn't really about Margaret Thatcher at all.

Well, this wasn't exactly right. The Iron Lady does acknowledge Margaret Thatcher's career, and that not everybody was happy with the political decisions she made. What it doesn't do is investigate these in any depth. It spends half its time focusing on Margaret Thatcher's life today, after the death of her husband (Broadbent).

The problem with The Iron Lady is that it feels like two different movies, and it doesn't really know which one it wants to be. If it was a movie about Thatcher's days as Prime Minister, looking at the pros and cons of what she instigated, it could have been very interesting. If it was a movie about a woman dealing with the death of her husband, it didn't need to be about Margaret Thatcher.

What is good is Meryl  Streep's portrayal of Thatcher. I've never been a massive fan of Streep, but she does do a very good job here. I thought I was watching Thatcher, not Streep. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Jim Broadbent. I usually love watching Broadbent, but here he's too busy being Jim Broadbent, and not Denis Thatcher.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Other Boleyn Girl: Film # 129 of Film 365

Monday 23rd January 2012

Director: Justin Chadwick
Year: 2008
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Kristen Scott Thomas, Jim Sturgess, David Morrisey, Mark Rylance

As films go, The Other Boleyn Girl is watchable. It tells the story of Anne and Mary Boleyn, two sisters who get caught up in the world of Henry VIII. If you enjoy historical movies about real-life Kings and Queens, you'll probably be attracted to this.

And therein lies the problem. If you do enjoy this sort of thing, no doubt you'll have seen many movies/ TV shows about King Henry VIII already. This one doesn't really have anything new to offer. And if this is the first time you've tried watching something like this, you won't realise how factually inaccurate it is. It takes all the rumours and possible things that might have happened between Anne and Henry, and presents them all as fact (as well as just blatantly getting some things wrong). This appears to be intentional, as the book the movie is based on does claim to be a work of fiction. But it still annoyed me. The film doesn't explicitly state it's a work of fiction (except in the end credits), so it's likely you're going to believe what you're told if you don't know know any better - meaning you'll come away having learnt all the wrong things.

The Other Boleyn Girl could have been duller, but it could also have been more factually accurate, more engaging, and generally rather less frustrating.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Film #123 of Film 365

Friday 13th January 2012

Director: Shekhar Kapur
Year: 2007
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans

Some time ago now I did watch Elizabeth, the prequel to this movie. I have to admit that I can't remember much about it - I think it was OK, but nothing spectacular. I guess you could say something very similar about this movie. There's nothing wrong with it, but it fits happily into that "movies about British Kings and Queens that don't quite stay true to history" niche.

This time around, Elizabeth (Blanchett) has grown up a little and is trying to stop the Spanish from beating England with their Spanish Armada. She's got Sir Francis Drake to advise her and Sir Walter Raleigh to woo her.

All the actors do a pretty good job of playing their roles exactly as they're meant to, so it's a fun enough movie to watch. Even Cate Blanchett does a pretty good job with Elizabeth, and I've never been her biggest fan. Elizabeth: The Golden Age isn't really anything to get excited about it, but it's a fun enough movie for a Friday night.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Young Victoria: Film #103 of Film 365

Thursday 22nd December 2011

Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Year: 2009
Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent

I had a vague interest in watching this when it got released at the cinema, but I never quite got around to going to see it. The Young Victoria is all about Queen Victoria's early days on the throne, focusing on her coronation, marriage and birth of her first child.

The problem with The Young Victoria is that whilst the elements above make up the plot, they don't really make up much of the film's running time. Victoria's marriage happens in about a minute, and you barely notice her becoming Queen. There are things the film does well - you come away with a proper liking for Prince Albert - but overall it could have been so much more than it is. It has its interesting moments, but it's surprisingly dull for such a short film.

Rating: 3 out of 5

October Sky: Film #101 of Film 365

Saturday 17th December 2011

Director: Joe Johnston
Year: 1999
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen

This is a movie I knew very little about, and wasn't really expecting to watch. We were at a friend's house and she presented us with a random selection of DVDs to watch. None of them jumped out at me, but none were things I didn't want to watch. So after some trusty "umming" and "ahhing" we went with October Sky.

I didn't realise it until the end of the movie, but October Sky is the true story of Homer Hickham (Gyllenhaal), a boy who wants to send a rocket into space. It's fairly easy to guess where this film is going, but it does it in good old '60s style, and brings to mind other greats about that period - for me, Stand by Me sprang straight to mind.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

New World: Film #91 of Film 365

Sunday 13th November 2011

Director: Terrence Malick
Year: 2005
Stars: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, August Schellenberg

I was intending upon watching Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs this evening. But after 5 minutes I realised I'd already seen it, and it wasn't that great first time round. So, with a few free hours, we started to watch New World - a movie I recorded some time ago. I have to admit I'm not entirely sure why, as I knew very little about the movie. I was pretty sure it had something to do with the colonisation of America.

I wasn't wrong about that. New World is a drama about Captain Smith (Farrell), an explorer who comes to America in the 1600s with English settlers, an, after spending time with the native Americans, falls in love with Pocahontas (Kilcher).

Anybody familiar with other Malick movies will know pretty much what to expect from this. It's not a bad movie, but it's also not a fast one. As with many Malick movies, much of the focus is on how things look, and using this to set the scene. It doesn't detract from the story, but it's not for you if you enjoy fast-paced action movies.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Duchess: Film #63 of Film 365

Friday 26th August 2011

Director: Saul Dibb
Year: 2008
Stars: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell

I've seen this before. I didn't realise this until ten minutes into the movie, so it can't have been that memorable. It was enjoyable enough to watch again though, so it also can't be that bad.

The Duchess follows Georgiana as she marries the Duke of Devonshire. She becomes The Duchess of Devonshire, and is loved by the public, but has a loveless marriage.

This could have been a great film, but for some reason it's just OK. That may be to do with the chemistry between the characters - somehow, there just isn't any. There are also a few too many lingering shots of Keira Knightley for my liking. I don't especially dislike her, but it did get a bit tiring after a while. I also hated Ralph Fiennes in this - he just plays such an awful, nasty man. Now, he's meant to be like that, so clearly he acted the part very well, but he is just so dislikeable here.

Not a bad movie, but one that could just have been so much better.

Rating: 3 out of 5

William and Kate: Film #31 of Film 365

Sunday 24th April 2011

Director: Mark Rosman
Year: 2011
Stars: Camilla Luddington, Nico Evers-Swindell

If you watch this and hate it, you only have yourself to blame. I was certainly warned a number of times before I sat down to watch this that it was as trite and sickly as a movie could be. But a certain amount of masochistic curiosity made me watch it anyway...

... and it's really not that bad. Not if you've been warned beforehand, anyway. Yes, it's a made-for-TV movie that was on Channel 5 in the middle of the day (and follows all the conventions of such a movie). Yes, it's like watching a two-hour-long episode of Home and Away. And yes, it's almost certainly entirely factually inaccurate. But that's OK - I can find out the real facts if I want to, and I quite like Home and Away.

In case you haven't realised this yet, the movie is about how Prince William and Kate Middleton met, fell in love and got engaged. And it was made in the USA so it's a pretty American view of events. But if you don't know any of that, you really don't want to watch this.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Saturday 12th February 2011

Director: Andrew Dominik
Year: 2007

Stars: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell

I'm still not entirely sure what I think of this. I think it's a movie you really have to be in the right mood for, and we most definitely weren't. It's incredibly atmospheric, and you have to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere. When you're at a friend's house with their 4-month-old baby, that's so hard to do. It's also a very long movie. This in itself wasn't really a problem, but it being atmospheric AND long was.

Having said all this, the ending of the movie still generated conversation amongst those of us who were watching it, so it must have had an interesting point to make. It tells the story of Jesse James, and how he finally met his death at the hands of Robert Ford (considering the title of the movie, I don't think that's giving very much away). It's not so much about the fact that James dies, but about the events leading up to it and the way in which it happens.

Very definitely a movie in the western genre, the atmosphere is almost a character itself here - hence the reason for finding it so hard to get immersed into. It gets 3 stars, but whether this has more to do with how good the film is or my mood at the time is hard to say. Granted, an opinion of a film always has to do with the mood you watch that film in... but a truly rubbish movie can bring you down when you're perfectly happy, and a brilliant movie can lift your spirits even if you're feeling horribly depressed. Here, there was no change in my mood. At all.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wednesday 17th November 2010

The Damned United

Director: Tom Hooper
Year: 2009
Stars: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney

We've had this recorded for ages, and I've just never really been in the mood to watch it. But after having it recommended by a couple of people, and, for some reason, being in the right mood, I finally got around to watching it.

The Damned United tells Brian Clough's (Michael Sheen) story, from being manager of Derby County football club and getting them to the top of the first division, to his downfall as manager of Leeds United in 1974.

The (true) story is a good one, and its well told. The only problem I really had with this film was Sheen's accent. It was all over the place, and certainly not (for the most part) from the north. There was definitely some Welsh in there, and some Queen's English. Had it not been for this incredibly distracting aside, The Damned United would have been a very good film, rather than just an interesting one.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wednesday 10th November 2010

The Social Network

Director: David Fincher
Year: 2010
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

This was better than I was expecting it to be. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but not something this, well, enjoyable, or funny. I didn't really think I was in the mood to watch it when we went to the cinema, but after 10 mins I'd settled into the movie and was happily going with the flow.

The Social Network is, perhaps unsurprisingly, all about Facebook and how it began. It tells how Mark Zuckerberg created the site, and how he ended up facing two different law suits.

Possibly the thing that impressed me most about the movie is the way it manages to portray almost everybody sympathetically. You care about, and can empathise with, almost everybody.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Monday 23rd August 2010

Hollywoodland

Director: Allen Coulter
Year: 2006
Stars: Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Robin Tunney

I know, I go weeks without watching any movies at all then watch four in four days. Well, it's a quiet time of year on TV and I've got some catching up to do!

Tonight's movie was Hollywoodland, which tells the story of George Reeves' (the original TV's Superman) death. Or rather, takes liberties with it. Now I don't know much about George Reeves, but even I could guess a lot of this wasn't necessarily the truth!

The film isn't bad, exactly, it just doesn't really succeed at what it's trying to do (are you spotting a theme here? I certainly am). It wants to be an exciting, noir thriller with lots of twists - but it just doesn't have the material to succeed. Very little in this film is surprising; and to have a successful film noir you really have to have some sort of plot resolution - even if only the director knows what it is. I realise this is hard with a "true life" story, but then, well, don't try and make a film noir. Make it a biography, or something else you have the material for.

Watchable, but a little long and not the film it wants to be.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Sunday 22nd August 2010

GoodFellas

Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1990
Stars: Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Braco, Paul Sorvino

I'd seen this many years ago, when I was much younger, it came on TV and I couldn't stop watching it. Dan, however, had never seen it - and I had to find a way to prove to him that Scorsese could be talented when he wanted to be. The problem was finding the time to watch a 3 hour-long movie...

Well, it was a quiet Sunday afternoon and we weren't doing much else, so it seemed like the right time. And the film is basically as good as I remembered it. Henry Hill grows up working for the mob, and the film follows his life as he enters the group, works with them, gets married etc. etc. It's based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi (a biography about Hill), so some of this at least is true (something I didn't realise when I watched it as a teenager).

It's still a great mafia movie, and has all the ingredients you want, and expect, from such a film. It also manages to keep you interested, actually having enough plot to fill the almost three hour long running time. If you haven't seen it, why not?

Rating: 4 out of 5