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

Frost/ Nixon: Film #152 of Film 365

Monday 16th April 2012

Director: Ron Howard
Year: 2008
Stars: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon,

I've wanted to watch Frost/ Nixon for a while, as for some time now I feel like I know a lot less about Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal than I should. Whilst the film was pretty good, I don't really think I know much more about Watergate than I did two weeks ago...

Frost/ Nixon focuses firmly on the aftermath of Watergate, and especially David Frost's (eventual) success in getting Nixon to admit that he broke the law. What Frost/ Nixon does, it does well. It doesn't idolise Frost (Sheen), instead portraying him as man with his own flaws, but who managed to do something memorable.

An enjoyable movie which succeeds in what it sets out to do - but just wasn't really what I was looking for.

Rating: 3 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

Once Upon a Time in America: Film # 131 of Film 365

Friday 27th January 2012

Director: Sergio Leone
Year: 1984
Stars: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Larry Rapp, Joe Pesci

I was bought Once Upon a Time in America for Christmas on Blu ray. I had asked for it, so it wasn't a bad choice of present. However, I hadn't seen the movie before. I didn't really know much about it until I read an article about the blu ray release in a film magazine a few months ago. The article was convincing enough to make me want to watch the movie, so when I saw that it was pretty cheap on Amazon I added it to my wish list.

After a long day travelling to and from Portsmouth for work (it shouldn't, but it takes 2 1/2 hours to get there and back from Bristol) I figured an evening watching a movie wasn't a bad way to spend my time. A word of warning here - it really does take a whole evening to watch this. It's nearly four hours long. Thankfully I knew this going into the experience, so I wasn't too distressed about it. However, concentrating after 3 and a half hours is tough, however ready you are for the experience.

For the most part, I really enjoyed Once Upon a Time in America. I usually love gangster movies anyway, and the best ones (think The Godfather, Goodfellas...) are often lengthy movies. Leone does a good job of creating a convincing gangster movie, and even manages to evoke different eras by using different film styles. Here, it's always easy to tell if you're in the 1930s or the 1980s. The main story, whilst long, makes sense and is pretty satisfying. My one problem with Once Upon a Time in America is that the first half an hour is never explained satisfactorily- at least, not in my opinion. OK, so you can claim "it's just the mob" (and therefore makes sense), you can read part of the movie as a "dream sequence" (a frustrating cop-out in my opinion, if that was the director's intention) - but none of those readings satisfy me. It's a pity, because the omission of what could have been a 30 second explanation turns a great movie into a frustrating one.

Leone has not created (as one imdb reviewer puts it) a "cultural endurance test" (although the phrase amuses me) - but if you are going to watch this, be wary of the very long running time and some frustrating lack of plot explanations. If you love gangster movies, I think you probably have to give this a watch, and for the most part you will enjoy it. But it's not perfect.

Rating: 4 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

Defiance: Film # 127 of Film 365

Thursday 19th January 2012

Director: Edward Zwick
Year: 2008
Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schrieber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos

I've had this movie recorded for a while, but was delaying watching it because it was fairly long. However, I had a fairly quiet evening so decided to give it a go... without really knowing what sort of movie I was going to be watching, because I couldn't really remember what Defiance was about, or why I had recorded it.

Well, it's all about World War II, and a group of Jews who lived in the forest during the war. Tuvia Bielski (Craig) is the group's Commander, and has to work to keep them altogether and working as a team. It's based on a true story, but it's not one I knew about before watching Defiance.

There's nothing wrong with Defiance, and the story is an interesting and (like all World War II movies featuring the Jews) harrowing one. However, I can't help but feel like I've seen this movie - or something like it- many, many times before. Whilst it was a new story to me, the film itself wasn't really anything memorable, new or special. There are better, more involving World War II movies out there - take a look at In Darkness or The Piano for just two excellent examples.

Rating: 3 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

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

In Darkness: Film #77 of Film 365

Sunday 11th September 2011

Director: Agnieszka Holland
Year: 2011
Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka, Grochowska

Sadly, this was the last of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. I could have stayed for another week. But there was more of Canada to see, and we could only afford so many film tickets!

The first exciting thing about In Darkness, for me, was that it was being screened in the Elgin Theatre - the last double decker theatre in the world. It's a truly stunning theatre, and whilst perhaps not really as good as a "proper" cinema for watching movies, it was entirely worth choosing to see a movie there for the environment and atmosphere.

Of course, it also helped that In Darkness is a really rather good movie. In it, Leopold Socha spends the Second World War helping Jews to survive by hiding them in the sewers in Lvov, Poland. At first I was a little concerned that the film might be overlong and drawn out. It did take a while for everybody to be fully characterised, but after 40 minutes or so I was thoroughly engaged in the story and not noticing the time at all. Give it a chance and your patience will be rewarded.

The best thing about In Darkness is that it doesn't treat any of the characters like martyrs. The Jews are normal people, and behave just like you or I would if forced into that situation. You and your family are most important, and you'll fight others for survival. It may not be how you'd like to behave in that circumstance, but I'm willing to admit it's probably how I would act. Even the hero doesn't start out as a hero - he does it all for his own financial gain. Obviously that changes, but nobody here is portrayed as Godlike - just normal people doing their best to deal with an awful situation.

In Darkness is a thoughtful, thought-provoking and (dare I say it) worthy movie, which I can only recommend.

Rating: 4.5 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

Munich: Film #33 of Film 365

Friday 6th May 2011

Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 2005
Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush

I haven't been doing too well at keeping up with my one film a day as part of Project 365. In fact, I've been totally rubbish. It's been 8 days since I've watched a movie. But well, life just got in the way. I'm hoping I can improve things, but we'll see.

Anyway, I made an attempt to start watching movies again today with Munich - a film I was convinced I hadn't seen before. Now, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that I blogged about Munich in August 2009 - so I have seen it before. As I was watching the film, I was beginning to remember some scenes. I definitely have seen this before.

If you read my original blog post, my thoughts haven't changed much. The film got neither better nor worse without a repeated viewing. Although you can now add "not that memorable a movie" to my list of complaints, I guess.

Oh, there is one plus to all this - I can finally recognise Eric Bana in a movie. It's taken a long time, although I'm not sure why.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wednesday 19th January 2011

The King's Speech

Director: Tom Hooper
Year: 2010
Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce

As I sat down to watch this I thought "oh no, what have I done? I've assumed this will be good and given no consideration to the fact that it might be rubbish. Now I'm going to hate it and be so disappointed". I'm thankful to say then, that it's not rubbish, and I wasn't wrong to listen to all the positive reviews it has been getting.

The King's Speech is all about King George VI and his ascension to the throne - focusing especially on the fact that George VI stammered. A lot. I have to admit it's a part of the history of the British monarchy I know very little about (although I know a little more now).

The strength of this movie is its ability to make the royal characters people you actually care about, who have normal human flaws, but are also very definitely members of the monarchy. However, it also manages to place this very human story in the context of the time successfully, so you learn some history at the same time (if you don't know it already). Having the start of World War II as a backdrop to what's happening somehow makes it all the more poignant.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Wednesday 8th September 2010

The Black Dahlia

Director: Brian De Palma
Year: 2006
Stars: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank

I wasn't sure what to expect from this as I'd heard reviews about it, but couldn't really remember how positive they had been. Either way, I often enjoy De Palma films, and am enough of a film noir fan to happily give them a go.

Unfortunately, this film starts very slowly. It's a good 40 minutes before we really have anything resembling a plot. I'm pretty sure the point of these 40 minutes was to character build, but it didn't really succeed. The film did do a good job of evoking a sense of time and place, but other, better films have done this just as well in the opening 5 minutes.

When we are given a plot, we learn that two detective partners have to investigate the brutal murder of a young girl. Once the film gets going, and we have a story to pin our interest on, things do pick up. I was genuinely interested in the ending by the last 20 minutes, wanting to know how all the pieces fitted together. The final hour felt much more like the De Palma films I know and love (brutal, violent and sick, yes - but interesting). It's just a pity that what could have been an excellent, taunt, 90 minute thriller turned into a rambling 2 hour + film.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wednesday 16th December 2009

Hunger

Director: Steve McQueen
Year: 2008
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham

The only things I knew about this movie before watching it were that there was a very long one-shot scene between a prisoner and a priest, it was made by an artist and it had something to do with Northern Ireland and the IRA.

That, in fact, sums the film up quite well. The story focuses on the prisons that IRA terrorists in Northern Ireland were sent to in the 1980s. It really feels as if there are two halves to this film. The first half shows the awful, grim conditions of these prisons whilst the second half focuses on Bobby Sands, an IRA member who (along with others) went on a hunger strike.

You really can tell that this film was made by an artist. The shots of everything are beautiful and feature detail you probably could never even imagine. The 17 minute one-shot is also incredibly well done, somehow managing to keep you totally engaged. The problem, however, lies in the narrative. There's no background to the story, so unless you know a fair bit about the history of Northern Ireland and the IRA you'll probably be totally lost. I knew enough for this to make sense, but still craved a little more explanation.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Saturday 21st November 2009

Letters from Iwo Jima

Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 2006
Stars: Ken Wantanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara

In order not to totally forget the contents of Flags of our Fathers before watching this, I made a concerted effort to watch it fairly soon after seeing that movie. And I'm glad I did. An excellent movie in its own right, being able to relate it back to Flags of our Fathers made it all the more enjoyable.

This time around, we get to see the battle on Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers. Eastwood does an excellent job of portraying the Japanese battle mentality, without any of the standard American judging you may expect. It tries to tell the story as "straight" as possible, accepting the events as a part of a history.

One of the most enjoyable things about this movie, for me, was the way each film sticks with firmly telling the story of the relevant side. To the Americans, the Japanese soldiers were faceless, just as they really would have been. Similarly, the Americans are faceless to the Japanese, apart from when one soldier is brought into the caves. Scenes shown in Flags of our Fathers are filmed from the opposite side here, so you get the Japanese viewpoint.

Another excellent film, the film would work well even if you hadn't seen Flags of our Fathers. But it's a great companion piece to that film, and scores 5 because they work so well together. Had I watched them in the other order, the scores may well have been reversed (5 for Flags of our Fathers, 4 for Letters from Iwo Jima).

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tuesday 17th November 2009

World Trade Center

Director: Oliver Stone
Year: 2006
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal

It had been my intention to watch lots of films this week, as I had the week off work. Unfortunately, things haven't quite worked out that way - there are just so many things to do! However, I did manage one film on Tuesday morning. It's only Thursday too, so maybe I'll fit in a couple more before I go back to work on Monday?

This was better than I expected it to be. I recorded it off of TV a while ago, and it had been left to get watched at some time in the future - partly because it was long (over 2 and a half hours) and partly because I wasn't sure how much I really cared about seeing it. When it was originally released I had been quite interested in watching it, but the myriad of reviews of it at the time I'd read had seemed quite disappointed with it, and this put me off a little.

Turns out it was actually fairly good. If you hadn't guessed, the movie tells the story of 9/11 - following a group of Port Authority policemen as they enter the World Trade Center, not really knowing what to expect or how to deal with it. I think a number of reviewers were disappointed that Stone made it a "straight" film, simply telling the story of 9/11. However, I don't think this is too surprising. What did they expect from an American director? I don't think it's necessarily wrong either. 9/11 is simply too recent for us to say anything too political about it - whilst Stone hints at the unorganised chaos of the rescue plans, nobody will (or should) say the rescue authorities didn't do everything they could to help.

The film is emotionally engaging, and I certainly cared a lot about the people being portrayed, becoming more and more involved. Stone shows us the whole day of 9/11, from people waking up to the amazing rescue efforts. The two and a half + hours went by very fast for me. My only minor complaint is that the information we got at the end, about how many people died and were rescued, went too fast - not giving me enough time to think about and assimilate the information. Considering how much I had started to care about the people in the film, I wanted a little more time for reflection before blasted with credits.

It's a very different movie to Greengrass' United 93 (also excellent and incredibly thought-provoking), but no less of a film for it. Both are excellent reflections on different aspects of 9/11.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sunday 15th November 2009

Flags of our Fathers

Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 2006
Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach

I wanted to see this when it got released at the cinema, but I just never got around to it. So when I saw it was showing on Channel 4, that seemed the perfect chance to watch it. I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy it, as I had heard that its companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima, was the better of the two films.

The movie started off fairly well - it was relatively engaging, although at times felt a bit like your standard war movie. However, this soon changed and Flags of our Fathers became an engaging, thought-provoking film.

Although very definitely about war (in this case the Second World War) the way in which the story was told was totally original. It follows John "Doc" Bradley, a doctor who is sent to help take the island of Iwo Jima in Japan. Upon putting the US flag at the top of the island, along with some other members of the team, Doc is sent back to the US to give people hope. Flags of our Fathers shows how Doc, and the other soldiers, deal (or don't) with this.

A unique, interesting, thought-provoking take on the Americans involvement in the Second World War. Definitely worth a watch. Now I just have to watch Letters from Iwo Jima - it was on TV straight after this, but I was a bit tired by then (it was 11.30pm). It's been recorded ready to be watched in the near future...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sunday 18th October

The Last King of Scotland

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Year: 2006
Stars: James McAvoy, Forest Whittaker

I'd wanted to see this for a while, and only heard good things about it - from friends and reviews alike. Unfortunately, it did mean watching another not-all-together happy film when recovering from a pretty nasty hangover (self inflicted, yes - but why are the romantic comedies never on on days like this?).

The plot follows Nicholas Garrigan, a Scot who has just qualified as a doctor and can't face working in his father's surgery for the rest of his life. Instead, he decides to go to Uganda and work as a doctor there. The film begins quite happily, and only gets more brutal as Nicholas comes to slowly understand how brutal the Ugandan regime is, and what he's doing by being Idi Amin's (the Ugandan presidents) "closest advisor" (and doctor).

It's a clever device, and makes the film work on a number of levels. Towards the end the film gets pretty violent and hard to watch, but it is excellently done and will leave you thinking about it for some time afterwards. Not an easy watch, but a worthwhile one.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sunday 16th August

Munich

Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 2005
Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush

I'd read mixed reviews of this. Most reviews had been vaguely complimentary, but not seemed to think it was amongst Speilberg's best work. I have to say, I agree with them. Whilst the story is interesting (if long), the film felt, at times, really pretentious, and the ridiculous amount of unnecessary endings didn't help.

The film is based around true events that helped at the Munich Olympics in 1972, when terrorists shot the entire Israeli Olympic team. The film starts here, and investigates how the Israelis retaliated.

If the point of the film is to make you think what a ridiculous war the Palestinians and Israelis were having, it succeeds. For a lot of the film, you just want them to stop killing each other and accept that fighting won't solve anything - something more than one character admits to believing. However, this could well be the Western Spielberg talking, and many Arabs may believe it paints too black and white a picture of their history.

Not a bad film - it does make you think, but sometimes the thinking isn't very deep, and often it's just a wish that the director would stop bludgeoning you over the head with his brilliance. Yes, Spielberg has done some amazing films, but this isn't one of them. Brilliance needs to be more subtle than this.

Rating: 3 out of 5