Anna Karenina

Friday 12th February 2016

Director: Joe Wright
Year: 2012
Stars: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen

Anna Karenina feels, in many ways, an awful lot like the book. Which isn't a compliment. After spending months slogging through the book a few years back, I did not feel satisfied at all with the ending. The film left me with exactly the same feeling. I guess it says something about the movie that it manages to be so faithful to the book...

... in some ways. When Anna Karenina starts, it is very visual and highly stylised. This continues throughout the movie, but somewhere along the way it manages to hone in on the things Tolstoy (I assume) was trying to convey when he wrote the novel - even if the book, at least to me, never really felt very stylised at all.

As my husband pointed out, Anna Karenina feels like something of a bit part in her own story. I imagine that's really on purpose, but it's annoying when she's clearly meant to be the central character. In the novel she bangs on about Kitty a lot. In the movie Kitty hardly features - but then, that's not surprising. Because whilst she's talked about in the novel, nothing  really happens to her. I guess it can't be the fault of the film that I hated the novel - but it has other problems too. Keira Knightley just doesn't seem right for the role of Anna Karenina. She's trying too hard. At times, it felt like she was trying to be Helena Bonham Carter. But Helena Bonham Carter doesn't belong in this movie either.

I would highly advise going and watching (or even reading) something else. Maybe the BBC dramatisation of War and Peace. Or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or just Pride and Prejudice. Just not this.

Rating: 2 out of 5

A Royal Night Out

Thursday 4th June 2015

Director: Julian Jarrold
Year: 2015
Stars: Sarah Gadon, Jack Reynor, Bel Powley, Emily Watson, Rupert Everett

The only film I've seen in the last month (look, I've been, umm, busy, OK?!), I quite enjoyed A Royal Night Out. Admittedly, I probably enjoyed it mostly because I went to baby cinema to watch it. I haven't been to baby cinema since I went with my son about two years ago, and, for the majority of the film, my daughter loved watching the screen. She's 4 months old and already a bigger TV fan than her big brother. Which makes me happy, 'cause I can watch a movie with her!

A Royal Night Out has a fairly simple plot (always a good thing when you're with a baby). It's VE Day, and the then young Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II), wants a night out. She gets what she wants, and all kinds of antics ensure. She and her sister Margaret get lost, separated, end up buses with no money... y'know, all the kind of stuff you'd never do if you were a royal and had somebody looking after you 24/7.

No, it's not complicated - but it is simple and fun. Which I was more than happy with at the time.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Impossible

Sunday 3rd May 2015

Director: J.A. Bayona
Year: 2012
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Penderghast

Don't watch this film if you're after something cheerful. Whether or not it ends well, it's a difficult movie to watch. It's possibly not the movie we should have picked to watch with our only free evening in some time - but at least it was good.

The Impossible tells the story of a family of five who were on holiday in Thailand when the tsunami hit in 2004. The title is probably something of a clue as to how the movie ends - but it's the journey the family take to get there that the film focuses on.

This probably isn't a movie that could have been made much sooner than it was - in many ways the tsunami and it's after-effects still feel very recent. But it is a well-told, respectful movie, and does do the subject justice.

Rating: 4 out of 5

All Good Things

Friday 20th February 2015

Director: Andrew Jarecki
Year: 2010
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall

Well, this was odd - and perhaps not exactly what I was expecting. I still don't know how much I enjoyed it. I hadn't really heard of the movie before, but it sounded interesting when I saw it was on TV, so decided to give it a try. It turns out that the reason I hadn't heard of the movie was because, even though it has some big names in it, it was never really promoted upon its release, and got a very narrow arts-house release.

Upon watching it, it's not hard to see the reasons for the lack of promotion. It's a tough movie to market. It tells the story of David Marks (Gosling), and his relationship with his father (Langella) and his wife (Dunst). It's apparently 'the most notorious unresolved murder cases in New York history' (according to the movie blurb; I had never heard of it so who knows whether or not this is true) - but this is the part of the problem. The murder case is unresolved, meaning there's no closure in the movie. Now, it's clear that the movie thinks it knows what happened, but it leaves a lot of questions in its wake. Not least of which is 'is this what really happened? How much has this movie made up?!'

Overall, the individual performances aren't bad. Individual elements of the script aren't bad. I even spent chunks of the film being quite intrigued and wondering what would happen next. But somehow All Good Things isn't quite the sum of its parts. I can't really recommend it - it's mostly likely to leave you feeling frustrated and confused - not to mention wanting answers you won't get.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Quartet

Tuesday 3rd February 2015

Director: Dustin Hoffman
Year: 2012
Stars: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon, Sheridan Smith

Another movie that was shown at New Year, this one took a little longer for me to watch as it was just a bit less appealing. I hadn't really heard of it previously, but it sounded like it could be interesting (or it must have done to me when I chose to record it, otherwise why did I bother? To be fair, that's a question I am now pondering).

Not a lot really happens in Quartet. Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), a retired musician, turns up at an old people's home for musicians, which causes some unsettling amongst the residents. You're meant to care what her back story is, but you can basically already figure it out, and the big 'reveal' ten minutes before the end of the movie is so obvious and bland that if you've lasted this long waiting for it, you're going to be grossly disappointed.

In hindsight, I really have no idea why I recorded this movie. It's dull, grating and full of one-dimensional characters. I would claim they're stereotypical, but they're not well written enough characters to achieve that.Quartet is everything that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel threatened to be, and thankfully completely avoided. Watch that instead.

Rating: 1 out of 5

The Help

Wednesday 31st December 2014

Director: Tate Taylor
Year: 2011
Stars: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney

At first, I thought that this movie was going to annoy me tremendously. All the black characters were likable, good people, and all the white characters (with the exclusion of the protagonist) seemed to be stereotypical racists.

The Help tells the story of Skeeter Phelan (Stone), a white woman twenty-something living in the Deep South of America during the 1960s, who decides to write a book detailing the lives of black maids (The Help) in Jackson, Mississippi. Eventually she succeeds in getting maids to tell their stories, so this is as much the story of the maids as it is of Skeeter herself.

Thankfully things don't turn out quite like I thought they would. As The Help continues, people are shown to be more complex than they were portrayed as initially, with good bits and bad bits in (almost) everybody. This is still a Hollywood movie, so of course there are very good people and properly evil characters, but the good/ bad black/ white divide becomes more subtle as the film moves along. This is definitely a movie with a point to make, but it's not a bad point, and it's definitely an interesting bit of history.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Adam

Saturday 6th December 2014

Director: Max Mayer
Year: 2009
Stars: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison

I recorded this when I saw it was showing on TV, not really knowing much about it. It sounded interesting though - a movie about a man with Asperger's Syndrome who develops a relationship with one of his neighbours.

I can't really tell you what the problem with this movie is - on paper, it sounds good. There's nothing wrong with the script, and there's nothing wrong with the acting. The problem was just that I felt no emotional engagement at all - and I can't really tell you why. It just wasn't there.

Adam begins with Adam's father dying (that shouldn't ruin the plot for you - it's barely mentioned later in the movie, although of course it does affect everything about Adam significantly, if subtly). I commented at the time that a movie about Adam's relationship with his father would have been more interesting, but as my husband rightly pointed out, his father can't escape in the way other people can. So the dynamic changes, perhaps to something less interesting. Although in many ways maybe this is about Adam's relationship with his father. But it still didn't engage me emotionally enough to care...

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Wednesday 3rd December 2014

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year: 2009
Stars: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman (voices)

I've seen Disney's A Christmas Carol before - and blogged about it too. What I cannot believe is that it was back in 2009, 5 years ago. I swear it was only two years ago at most. Apparently not. Sigh. Having enjoyed it quite a lot then, a couple of years ago (I guess...) I went and bought the DVD. So when I had a (very, very) rare afternoon at home to myself a few weeks before Christmas, I decided that was the perfect time to watch it again.

Upon re-reading my original review, all the points I made still stand. Everything I said then I thought when it watched it again. Yes, in many ways it's a good movie - and it places it does make you jump. Yes, having Jim Carrey play all the ghosts is odd (and the ghost of Christmas Past is still rubbish). And yes, Colin Firth still looks odd in stop motion.

The one pity with this viewing is that I wasn't watching it in 3D, because I was watching it at home. Usually that doesn't really bother me, but I know this looked lovely in 3D, and really added to the Christmas feel of the movie. That may be why it's lost half a star in this review. Or maybe I'm just getting harsh in my old age.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Way

Saturday 15th November 2014

Director: Emilio Estevez
Year: 2010
Stars: Martin Sheen, Yorick van Wageningen, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Emilio Estevez

I have wanted to see this for some time, so when I saw that it was on TV I jumped at the chance to watch it. I will admit, this is partly because I've been a big Emilio Estevez fan for some time, and I knew he had directed this. About a year ago I also got to read his autobiography, Along the Way, which I found really enjoyable. It was framed around the making of this movie, and made me even more keen to see the movie.

I'm pleased to report that I wasn't disappointed. The Way is pretty unique in many ways. It follows Tom (Sheen), as he walks the Camino de Santiago - a route of pilgrimage that his son was following when he died. As he walks The Way, Tom meets a myriad of characters each with their own story and pilgrimage to make.

The film is never too judgmental, letting you decide how you feel about the characters for yourself. It also doesn't feel like it's following any particular stereotypes. A lovely refreshing movie that didn't disappoint.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Friday 10th October 2014

Director: Francis Lawrence
Year: 2013
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Willow Shields, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Another movie that I wanted to see when it was released (having already seen The Hunger Games and really enjoyed it), this was the second movie I got to see as part of having a netflix trial.

Now, I haven't read the books, so I can't compare the movie and the book, but I did really enjoy the film. It has similar elements to the first movie, but it is different. It was a while ago I saw The Hunger Games so I did have to cast my mind back a bit, but I did manage to figure out what was going on relatively quickly.

Katniss Everdeen, the winner of last years tournament, along with Peeta (Hutcherson), now have to fight in this year's tournament, along with previous winners from other sectors. The excuse for this is that it's the 75th year of the games. The real reason is to get rid of Katniss and Peeta, who have made a mockery of the system and are starting to cause an uprising. Needless to say, none of the fighters are particularly happy about this state of affairs. There's a lot of angry people in this tournament.

The most powerful aspect of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is how it manages to show you the total injustice of it all - the bad guys are truly evil, and you really do end up despising them. I'm now keen to see the third movie, which must mean I enjoyed this one a fair bit...

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Ides of March

Friday 19th September 2014

Director: George Clooney
Year: 2011
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman

A movie I missed when it was first released at the cinema, The Ides of March tells the story of an idealistic staffer (Stephen Meyer, played by Gosling) for a presidential candidate (Governor Mike Morris, played by Clooney).

There aren't really any surprises here. Meyer learns that politics are dirty, and even the people you look up have their own (often not particularly moral) secrets. No surprises there then - although the movie seems to portray it this way; like this is something you might not know. Which makes it all feel a bit trite in my book.

If Clooney had chosen to tell this as a straight story, it would have been interesting enough. But he hasn't. Instead he's rammed the message that "politics is dirty, you know?!" in your face. Which just makes me feel like I'm being treated like an idiot.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

First Snow

Wednesday 17th September 2014

Director: Mark Fergus
Year: 2006
Stars: Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner

Before seeing that this was on TV, I had heard nothing about it - or perhaps I had, I just don't remember because the movie is nearly ten years old now. Either way, I definitely haven't seen it before, and it sounded intriguing enough - a movie about a man (Pearce) who learns that he's going to die when the next snowfall hits, and tries to do everything in his power to stop it happening.

The idea isn't a bad one, but somehow the implementation is a little lacking. There seem to be two movies in here struggling to get out - one about a normal man who is just trying to avoid death, and another about a man with something of a shady past. As it is, neither story is told in enough detail to make it feel real, resulting in you feeling as if you're watching two halves of two different movies.

Some great ideas, but something of a messy result.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Water for Elephants

Sunday 17th August 2014

Director: Francis Lawrence
Year: 2011
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

It's been a while (about 2 months, in fact) since I updated this blog. It's not due to a lack of movie-watching, just a lack of time. So I'll attempt to catch up over the next few days...

The first movie on the list is Water for Elephants, something I had wanted to see for some time, but hadn't received the best reviews. This meant I decided to reserve judgement, which was probably a good thing, as I ended up enjoying what I saw.

Jacob (Pattinson) is a veterinary student who ends up running away and joining the circus after his parents die. Whilst the circus owner, August (Waltz) takes a liking to him, sort-of, Jacob takes something of a liking to August's wife (Marlena, played by Witherspoon). Needless to say, things don't work out too well.

It is a beautiful looking movie, and well acted too. It kept me engaged whilst I was watching it. Perhaps not a masterpiece, but certainly perfectly enjoyable for a Sunday evening.

Rating: 4 out of 5

My Sister's Keeper

Tuesday 29th July 2014

Director: Nick Cassavettes
Year: 2009
Stars: Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva, Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Evan Ellingson, Jason Patric, Heather Wahlquist

This has been sat waiting to be watched for ages. Not because I didn't want to see it, but because I knew it was going to be depressing and had spent the last few weeks wanting to watch happy movies. But My Sister's Keeper was the last movie to be watched on our previously very long list of recorded movies, so I figured it was time I watched it.

The story is about a girl (Anna Fitzgerald, played by Abigail Breslin) who was conceived in order to save her sister's life - a sister who is suffering from cancer. The film focuses on Anna's desire to be medically emancipated from her parents, because she no longer wants to give away her body parts to her sister.

The film poses a number of interesting moral dilemmas, but revelations later in the film feel, to some extent, like a cop-out. Instead of forcing you to make a decision about how you feel and what you believe, it offers an easy get-out clause. The revelations work for the sake of the story, but don't give the movie the moral depth it might otherwise have had. Having said all that, My Sister's Keeper is an interesting, if incredibly sad, story. It's definitely worth a watch - just don't expect a cheery ending (or beginning, or middle).

Rating: 4 out of 5

What to expect when you're expecting

Friday 27th June 2014

Director: Kirk Jones
Year: 2012
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quiad, Chris Rock, Chace Crawford, Ben Falcone, Matthew Morrison

The second of two anniversary movies, this is one that I had recorded on TV a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't convinced it was going to be that good, but an easy-to-watch comedy had a certain type of appeal.

What to expect when you're expecting tells the story of five different couples going through pregnancy. A number of different types of pregnancy are covered, from miscarriage to a couple who struggle to get pregnant to the unexpected pregnancy.

Overall, this was a pleasant surprise. The women, for the most part, were likable - or at least you could understand where they were coming from. And when you couldn't, it was funny - like it was meant to be. The actual pregnancies were treated with tact as well as humour, and the awful jokes I dreaded didn't exist. The men were a little harder to like - maybe it's just because I've never been a dad, but the scenes in the park with the dads left me cold. I just couldn't connect with them.

My one final (minor) complaint is that the movie stops when the babies are born. That's just not where it ends - that's where it all begins! But then, I guess this means I cared about what happened to the characters - and I suppose it means there's an obvious sequel. Whether that's a good or bad thing is a different question...

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Fault in our Stars

Friday 27th June 2014

Director: Josh Boone
Year: 2014
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammel, Willem Dafoe, Lotte Verbeek

As it was our anniversary today, Dan and I decided to treat ourselves. We dropped our son off at nursery as normal, then headed into town for a tasty lunch and a visit to the cinema. The cinema listings hadn't been that great, but there were a few movies we were willing to see. The Fault in our Stars looked to be one of the best (the trailer did its job of selling the film to us), and it was on at an appropriate time (we had to be back at nursery by 5.30pm).

The story sounds like a relatively familiar one - two teenagers fall in love, but they are both having to live with cancer. As is often the case, whilst the trailer did a good job of selling the movie to us, it also enabled us to guess the ending.

I'm sad to say that we were right about the ending. And that's mostly because there was nothing new or inventive here. I've seen this movie before, in one guise or another, so, so many times. Whilst hubby claimed he felt sad in all the right places, I didn't have any such concerns. Maybe I'm heartless, but this was so close to the run-of-the-mill plot that Hollywood chucks out that it just all felt made up to me.

I can't really recommend this. If you haven't seen this sort of movie much before it's perfectly enjoyable, but in this case, once you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Brighton Rock

Saturday 14 June 2014

Director: Rowan Joffe
Year: 2010
Stars: Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Philip Davis

OK, so it's been a while since I watched a movie (with the exception of watching Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1, which we saw on holiday. But I've seen, and blogged, about that before, and my opinion hasn't really changed)... I've just had a quick glance at this blog and the last movie I saw was Drive, back in early May. I guess I have been busy since then - trips to Exeter to see family, and a week on the Isles of Scilly have all contributed, but I didn't realise it had been quite that long.

So it's a shame that the movie I did watch was Brighton Rock (the re-make, not the original) - which was really rather rubbish. The characters felt like they had no motivation other than to move the story along, the plot was mostly daft, and what was the point of those mods and rockers scenes? It felt as if they were just crammed in there to make the whole thing look good.

Brighton Rock tells the tale of Pinkie (riley), a boy working for the mob who decides to take over the gang when his boss dies. For various reasons, he ends up meeting Rose (Riseborough) and marrying her. Rose has to be the most frustrating, unmotivated, unbelievable character in the whole movie. And that's in a movie full of unbelievable characters.

Now, both my hubby and I were convinced we had watched the original Brighton Rock, and that it was much better. I don't know what he was thinking about, but I think I was actually thinking of Quadrophenia. Perhaps it was the whole mods and rockers connection. I sincerely hope the original Brighton Rock is better (along with the Graham Greene novel it is based on); I might still give it a try just out of sheer stupid curiosity. But overall, you're probably a lot better off watching Quadrophenia.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Drive

Friday 2nd May 2014

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Year: 2011
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman

I recorded this because I was quite keen to watch it - I knew it had received a lot of critical acclaim, and whilst I didn't know that much about it, I was pretty curious. A conversation with a colleague (after I had recorded the movie) did put me off a little though - he claimed it was a pretty slow movie, and I just don't really feel like there's time in my life for slow movies at the moment.

I'm pleased to say that, whilst he was right, it didn't matter. The movie is meant to be slow - that's part of the point. It's aiming to set up a certain sort of atmosphere which, I feel, it achieves perfectly.

The less you know about Drive the better, I suspect - but there are a couple of things I can say that won't ruin anything.The driver in question (Gosling) is a stunt car driver, but also works as a get-away driver. And that's where things get interesting. Interesting enough that I don't really want to say any more.

Yes, Drive is slow - but I was never bored; the next thing always came fast enough to keep me intrigued. Besides, it's only 90 minutes long anyway. Worth seeking out if you enjoy something a bit different.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Saturday 12th April 2014

Director: John Madden
Year: 2011
Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Tena Desae

My second hotel-themed movie in as many days, this has a totally different air to it than The Grand Budapest Hotel. It tells the story of a group of British pensioners who, for one reason or another, end up choosing to move to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India.

This film could have ended up being so many awful things. Stereotypical (of pensioners, of Indians, of racists...), disgustingly sweet and sugary, just downright awful... to its credit, it is none of those things. It is just a smart, funny, ultimately fairly wise movie about getting older.

The characters are a delight to watch, and the cast do a brilliant job. Bill Nighy, in particular, is impressive - I've never seen him act so well before. There's also a great plot, and you really care about what happens to everybody in this movie - even the ones you don't like. Absolutely worth a watch, you won't regret it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Grey

Wednesday 9th April 2014

Director: Joe Carnahan
Year: 2011
Stars: Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, James Badge Dale

Wow, this meanders. And I don't mean that in a good way. Grey in name, grey in colour, grey in just about every sense. The Grey is so dull.

Liam Neeson plays John Ottway, a man who ends up on an aeroplane that crashes somewhere in Alaska. Cue the potential for a movie about cannibalism, and how to survive in the wild (try Alive, a much better movie). By this point in the movie I was already bored rigid, so to be fair it didn't really matter that The Grey didn't head in this direction. Instead, it introduces wolves. Wolves that like to kill men in Alaska who have just been in a plane crash. I honestly didn't think that a movie about blood-thirsty wolves could be this dull.

I'd finish this review, but I've fallen asleep...

Rating: 1 out of 5