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

Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby: Film # 124 of Film 365

Sunday 15th January 2012

Director: Adam McKay
Year: 2006
Stars: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Leslie Bibb, Amy Adams, Jane Lynch, Gary Cole

This is a silly movie. I don't mean that in a negative way - it's just a movie that manages to be funny by being very silly. Given that that is clearly its intention, this works pretty well. Talladega Nights starts out stupid, gets dafter and ends on a silly note. And I really enjoyed all this silliness.

Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) has always dreamed of driving fast cars. He gets his wish when he has a chance to contend in a motor race, and wins. However, as the movie continues, life gets harder for Ricky Bobby and he struggles to maintain his winning streak.

Being that this is a silly movie, sometimes it oversteps the mark - some scenes that are clearly meant to be funny just don't feel quite right. But on the whole, it gets the comedy bang-on, and had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. It also had me muttering "that's just stupid" quite a lot - but in a good way.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Nacho Libre: Film #7 of Film 365

Tuesday 22nd March 2011

Director: Jared Hess
Year: 2006
Stars: Jack Black, Hector Jimenez, Ana de la Reguera, Darius Rose

I was expecting to watch Tsotsi this evening, as that was the movie at the bottom of the "to be watched" list. So when the sound on that recording was so bad we had to delete it (which I was pretty gutted about as I really do want to watch Tsotsi), I had to change my frame of mind somewhat in order to watch Nacho Libre.

It's not a complex plot. Jack Black is a monk who really wants to be a Mexican wrestler - so he finds a tag team partner and becomes a Mexican wrestler. Albeit one that loses most of his matches (but still gets paid).

There's nothing particularly novel or surprising here. The movie pootles along merrily enough, and, if you like Jack Black humour (the laid back variety rather than the in-your-face one) you'll be happy enough with this.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Blades of Glory

Saturday 5 February 2011

Director: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Year: 2007
Stars: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Another movie that had been waiting some time to be watched, this afternoon Dan wanted a "Saturday afternoon movie". A brightly coloured comedy seemed to fit the bill, even if I was a little sceptical about how much I was going to enjoy it - I'm not particularly known for my love of Will Ferrell.

I needn't have worried. I found this so funny, it had me in fits for half of the movie. It's completely tongue in cheek, knows exactly what it is, and doesn't take itself at all seriously. There's even a plot, if you're willing to pay attention to it. It's simple and involves a new all-male ice skating partnership, but it works. I even found myself rooting for the good guys - something I find easy not to do in many Hollywood movies (especially the comedies).

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sunday 10th October 2010

Looking for Eric

Director: Ken Loach
Year: 2009
Stars: Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop, Gerard Kearns, Stefan Gumbs, Lucy-Jo Hudson

A warning: there's lots of swearing in this film. I didn't actually notice this until about half way through, when Dan (who wasn't watching the film, but was listening) went "there's a lot of beeping beeping in this film isn't there?). And certainly from that point on (at least), yes, there was. Although the lead character did, in fairness, have quite a lot to swear about by this point.

Steve Evets is Eric Bishop, a man who left his first wife and has been left by his second wife (leaving two teenage stepsons behind - they become quite important to the plot). He starts to find life hard to deal with when his daughter asks him to meet his first wife in order to look after his granddaughter, and this is when Eric Cantona starts appearing in his bedroom. Up until this point, and for the first two thirds of the film, things are going well. I cared about Eric and his life - the only thing that annoyed me was the bits where Cantona showed up. He mumbled, his brief stints made no difference to the plot, and well, he was just annoying and entirely irrelevant quite frankly.

But then the film does a bit of a left field, and in the final third you're left with a bizarre surrealist ending that doesn't sit with the rest of the realism (although it does make for an annoyingly happy Hollywood ending - again, something the film doesn't need), and an awful lot of swearing. I guess at least you didn't leave the film thoroughly depressed (Harry Brown anyone?) - well, at least not because of the story. I was fairly depressed at a basically rubbish ending to what could have been a very enjoyable film.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Monday 13th July

Coach Carter

Director: Thomas Carter
Year: 2005
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson

Needing a rest when I got home from work, I figured watching a recorded film was a useful way to spend my time. For some reason Coach Carter appealed - it just seemed a bit different from anything I had watched for a while, and perhaps an easier watch than some of the other recordings that lie waiting for me!

The film is based on a true story, about a basketball coach who takes over a losing team in a no-hope school in a bad area. You can guess the outcome, but because it's a true story, there are less unlikely sentimental moments than in other films of this type.

Because it is a true story, the film holds up pretty well. The acting is convincing, and the story never seems forced or fake. It's a pretty long film, but an engaging one that's worth sticking with.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Saturday 10th January

The World's Fastest Indian

Director: Roger Donaldson
Year: 2005
Stars: Anthony Hopkins

This may be about the world's fastest under 1000cc motorbike, but it is most definitely not the world's fastest film. It has it's moments, but overall it is really rather slow.

The film is about Burt Munro, an old New Zealand man who is determined to take his 1920s Indian motorcycle to the salt lakes in Utah to see how fast it can really go. Based on a true story, Burt is actually rather a hard character to like. Although either this wasn't true in real life or Americans have a funny sort of character that they like, as (almost) everybody in the film seems to become quite attached to Burt.

Had the film been a little shorter it may have worked - but then, just to add to the annoyance, Anthony Hopkins' Kiwi accent is awful. He's either trying to be Welsh or from Devon, but it's certainly not from New Zealand.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Tuesday 18th November

Cinderella Man

Director: Ron Howard
Year: 2005
Stars: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellwegger, Paul Giamatti

This is a film I wanted to see when it originally came out at the cinema, but never got around to. So when it was premiered on TV a few months ago, I made sure I taped it. It took another few months for me to watch it - partly due to a back log of interesting films, but also partly due to me being a little dubious of the subject matter.

The film focusses on the life, and boxing career, of James J. Braddock, an Irishman living in New York during the 1920s depression. Not being a huge boxing fan, that element of the film put me off a little bit, although the reviews were good. It turns out it was an entirely needless worry - the film, although filled with boxing matches and montages, never went further than it needed to, and the story more than made up for the boxing matches. In fact, at times I even found myself caring what was happening in the ring - and it takes a lot to make me do that.

A really good film - long, but worth watching for every heart-wrenching second. What's even better is that the film is ultimately uplifting, and although I was convinced there would be a truly depressing ending, it never came. The wonders of true life, I suppose.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Monday 10 November 2008

Dodgeball: a true underdog story

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Year: 2004
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller

Although I had never been particularly keen on seeing this film at the cinema, I'd only read good reviews about it when it got released. So when it made it to Channel 4, I figured I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and see if it really was any good. My hopes weren't high, as I'm not normally one for Ben Stiller's over-the-top humour. Turns out I need not have worried, as Ben Stiller was the bad guy, and you were meant to hate his over-the-top view of the world.

The film focuses on a group of misfits who end up having to play dodge ball in order to keep their gym from making it into the hands of the bad guy. The story was, just like it sounds, standard Hollywood fare, and you knew the ending before the film began. Happily, the filmmakers knew this, and supplied enough tongue-in-cheek humour for it not to matter. The jokes were actually funny, and the two hours passed by merrily enough. All in all, a much more pleasant experience than I was expecting.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5