The Paperboy

Lee Daniels' follow up to his heart-wrenching Precious is set in the south of Florida in the late 60s, during the time of the Civil Rights movement. Whilst civil rights is not the main theme, they do provide a great background to the motivations of some of the film's characters.

The Paperboy follows idealistic writer Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and his younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) as they try to clear a man who they believe was wrongly convicted of murder. Helping them are Ward's writing partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo), a black British writer, and Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), a woman who writes love letters to convicts. The brothers' father (Scott Glen) is the distributor of the Miami Times in their small town.

The group meet with the suspected killer, Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), who seems indifferent to the fact that he is on death row, but maintains his innocence. Ward follows up on every single lead but can't seem to find any solid evidence to say that Van Wetter didn't commit the crime. Regardless of this, Yardley returns to Miami and runs the story in the Times. Van Wetter is let free from prison where he reconnects with Charlotte. Ward, who was mutilated by two sadistic men, and Jack are left to their own devices.

Daniels' does his best with a well-rounded cast. McConaghey shines as Ward Jansen and it is good to see him using his southern accent to use. Efron has come a far way from his High School Musical days and gives Jack a confused vulnerability that really works. The main star of this film, however, is Nicole Kidman. She really showcase her range as an actor. Her scenes with Cusack are, while disturbing, are amazing.

John Cusack has long been a favourite of mine and I was excited to see him in this. His portrayal of the villainous Van Wetter is as amazing as it is haunting. You could really believe that he is a murderous psychopath. This is the third film of the year that I have seen David Oyelowo in (the other two being Jack Reacher and Lincoln) and I have to say that he's growing on me. In each of these movies, he plays vastly different characters and I'm looking forward to seeing him in future projects.

Daniels shot this film in 16mm film and it really works. It suits the time period and the occasional blowout of light makes it look fantastic and real (as well as raw). It was a bold choice choosing this format and really pays off.

The soundtrack of this film is also superb. The use of contemporary soul and R&B music really lent to both the time period and setting.

Verdict: Although the story can be a little lacking at times, the drawcard here are the performances, especially from Nicole Kidman.

The Last Stand

This really should be Arnie's last stand. While it was a fun romp through the Nevada desert, Schwarzenegger has no business fighting crime. It is a young man's game and even he acknowledges the fact.

The Last Stand revolves around Sheriff Ray (Schwarzenegger) and his rag-tag group of deputies trying to stop an escaped cartel boss from making his way to Mexico. The plot is almost that simple. The reason the cartel boss escaped is due to FBI agent John Bannister's (Forrest Whitaker) negligence. The whole thing could have been avoided if he checked up on his agents and moved his prisoner in daylight instead of the wee hours of the morning.

I feel like this movie could have been a whole lot shorter than it's 107 minute running time. There are a whole bunch of extraneous shots of glances between Deputy Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander) and Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro), I'm still not sure what his role was in this movie, and these shots in this modified Corvette, where cartel boss Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) shifts gears. Although they looked cool, we only needed to see them once or twice, not every single time he changes speed.

There is a strange sort of familiarity between Ray and Cortez. I feel as though we are missing some scenes where we find out that Ray has run into relatives of Cortez during his stint as a LAPD Narcotics officer. Although they barely hint at this, it would have been nice in this sort of movie to have that explicit connection. It would also explain the reaction Ray gives when he finds out who is making a run for his town.

The cast (apart from the few who I will point out) were not suited for this film. Of course this role was written for Arnie and he does fit in. The same is said for Johnny Knoxville, who is just playing Johnny Knoxville (like he has any other setting!), and Luis Guzman, as the loyal but hesitant and insanely funny deputy.

On the other hand, Forest Whitaker is playing just an angrier version of the role he played in Species. He only really comes off as incapable of following proper protocol. The other person not suited here is Jaimie Alexander. She is capable of extraordinary range and I felt that she was a wasted talent. The way that they built up the character of Cortez, you were expecting a name actor when he would finally be revealed, but instead we get an unfamiliar face.

The person who sort of defies both of those positions and is in sort of a middle ground is Peter Stormare. Whilst you would expect to see him silently shoving body parts into a wood chipper (Fargo, anyone?), here he is playing a loud gunslinger type and at the end of every scene with him, I was waiting for him to spit his tobacco on the ground.

Verdict: Some great driving sequences coupled with callbacks to old Arnie one-liners ("Consider yourself deputised") make for a great action movie. My recommendation to Arnie: quit acting while you're ahead, maybe move into producing and directing like your Twins co-star Danny DeVito.

Classic Movie Review: Donnie Darko (2001)

Time travel, existentialism, destruction and fear are all explored in Richard Kelly's cult debut film. Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is part of a typical suburban family, or so it would seem. He suffers from emotional disorders and the medication that he has to take results in him making imaginary friends. His latest friend is a man in a bunny suit called Frank. One night, Frank asks Donnie to follow him, so that he can share a secret with Donnie. Frank reveals that the world will end in 28 days, six hours, 42 minutes and twelve seconds.

At dawn, Donnie awakens on the local golf course and discovers that he has been sleepwalking. Returning home, Donnie discovers that an unidentified jet engine had crashed into his bedroom whilst he was away. At school, Donnie meets Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone), who has recently moved to town. The two soon begin a relationship.

Donnie starts to get visits from Frank, telling him to commit crimes, such as flooding the school and burning down author Liam Cunnigham's (Patrick Swayze) house. A basement containing child pornography is discovered by firefighters. This revelation brings much unrest to the small town of Middlesex. Donnie also starts seeing snakes of liquid coming out of the chests of everyone around him, which Frank explains is one aspect of time travel.

To find out more about time travel, Donnie goes to his school's physics teacher, Dr. Monnitoff (Noah Myle), who explains that time travel could be theoretically possible if an object traveling faster than the speed of light could enter a particular wormhole. He also gives Donnie a book on the subject, which Donnie discovers is written by a senile old lady who lives in an old house on top of the hill.

Donnie's younger sister (Daveigh Chase) makes it through to the quarter finals of a dance competition that will be held in LA. Their coach is unable to make it, as she is at Cunningham's arraignment, and she asks Donnie's parents to go to LA. They leave Donnie and his sister Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal) alone for the weekend. Elizabeth throws a Halloween party, that is also in celebration of her entry into Harvard.

Gretchen shows up to the party, distressed because her mother has gone missing. She and Donnie go for a drive up to where the old lady on the hill lives and are attacked by the school bullies (Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen). They see a car coming and one of them runs away, leaving Gretchen to get hit by the car. Once the other bully runs away, Donnie shoots the driver of the car, whose name is Frank and is wearing a bunny suit. He gets Gretchen in the car and drives into the hills. Over his house a swirling cloud formation is formed.

Meanwhile, the plane that is carrying Donnie's parents and sister home from LA hits some turbulence and detaches one of the engines, which goes down through the cloud formation. This causes time to go backward to the beginning of the film and instead of Donnie leaving the house to follow Frank, he is crushed by the engine, thus ending his world.

Back in 2001, this movie made quite a stir because of the whole plane crash thing, which severely impacted on the fact that not a lot of people saw this film, which is a shame. They missed out on seeing a deep and meaningful film.

Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as the haunted Darko. His character is dealing with regular teen troubles as well as these haunting visions. Other great performances come from Jena Malone as the troubled Gretchen and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the excitable Elizabeth. Drew Barrymore also makes a great appearance as Darko's English teacher.

The music in this film is superb mix of Michael Andrews' chilling score and rock and pop hits from the late 80s, including Joy Divsion and Duran Duran.

Verdict: Richard Kelly has created a haunting world and made a perfectly flawed character in Darko. He has made a simple theory behind time travel, whilst the actual mechanics behind it are still complex. Gyllenhaal brings his A-game.

Lincoln

I went into this movie expecting standard Spielberg fare, that we have come to know of late. But I was surprised to find a film that played to filmmaker sensibilities inside me and I can see that a lot of meticulous detail went into making this film the best it could be.

We join Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) in 1865, the Civil War has been going for four years and Lincoln has just been re-elected for his second term as president. Everyone around him, including his wife Mary Todd (Sally Field) and his Secretary-of-State William Seward (David Strathairn) are urging him to make peace with the Confederacy and thus put an end to the bloody and gruesome war.

But Lincoln wishes to banish slavery forever, a condition which the Confederacy will not stand for. So before his inauguration at the end of January, Lincoln wishes to get his 13th Amendment passed in Congress, that will hopefully put an end to the war.

Before I saw this movie, I had no idea how the US Congressional process worked. Now I feel slightly informed, albeit a little confused. But like all democracy, Lincoln must have a majority vote in order to get his bill passed. He must get some votes from noncommittal Democrat congressmen, whose party is opposed to the idea of the abolition of slavery. And he will get these votes anyway he can, he's the president, damn it.

So, William Seward is entrusted the task of hiring some men to acquire these votes (played by James Spader, John Hawkes and writer/director/actor Tim Blake Nelson). These men go about their job and acquire these votes, that lead to the inevitable passing of the amendment, much to the dismay of the Vice President of the Confederacy (Jackie Earle Haley), who had been sent from the South with terms for a peace agreement.

Spielberg has formed an interesting insight into a man who died almost 150 years ago. We not only see the popular public figure that was Abraham Lincoln, but we also get a glimpse at a family man, who consoles his wife when she is sad and fights with his son, who wishes to do his bit and be a part of the fighting.

Although I have not been a fan of his work in the past, Day-Lewis has really earned the praise he has received. He has thoroughly done his job, which is convincing me that that man on the screen is a not a character, but a person. He really plays up the popular person who was Lincoln, whilst at the same time showing the personal struggles that the man went through. He deserve the Oscar for his performance.

David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatium) is excellent as Seward, a man who supports his president, but also wishes to see an end to the conflict. Tommy Lee Jones plays the man in charge of the Abolition movement and gives a stellar performance. A surprise for me was Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fresh from the success of Rian Johnson's Looper, as Robert Todd Lincoln. He played the role with conviction and showed the immense frustration felt by his character.

Steven Spielberg has helmed a masterful cast led by Daniel Day-Lewis, with the story of one of the most beloved US presidents. Even if you're not a fan of the US political system or the history of the Civil War, see this movie for the amazing performances.

Movie 43

Please don't watch this movie. Don't see it at the cinema, don't buy the DVD, don't even download it, it's not worth the bandwidth. My friend who was with me at the time, walked out twenty minutes in and I would've have well if I didn't have to review it. I feel as though my IQ has halved. And I wanted to give this movie a chance.

Now I've got that out of my system, let me tell you about it. The plot begins with a filmmaker (Dennis Quaid) pitching a movie to a studio exec (Greg Kinnear). Okay, of to a good start, no problem there, that is until we get to the first short about Kate Winslet going on a blind date with Hugh Jackman. In a regular movie that would be a great set up for a romantic comedy until it all goes south when we find out that Hugh Jackman has balls hanging from his chin, fully grown male testicles. What am I ten, who would find this funny. It obviously doesn't appeal to Greg Kinnear's character either because he immediately wants to put an end to the meeting.

But still Dennis Quaid goes on with his pitch, with stories ranging from an extremely dirty mouthed Emma Stone (who is going to have to work extremely hard to regain my love) sucking on Kieran Culkin's (Macaulay's brother) finger to a sketch about a product called iBabe (a naked female that functions like an iPod) made by a company headed by Richard Gere. Other sketches include Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts telling their new neighbours about the disgusting ways that homeschool their son (some of which are borderline incestuous). I am sure their son will grow up to be a mass murderer. Another short involved young Chloe Grace-Moretz getting her first period, with all the men in the house freaking out.

One storyline I did like (I use that term insanely loosely) was called Gotham City Speed Dating. In this short, Robin (Justin Long) is at a speed dating night, only to be humiliated by Batman (Jason Sudeikis), who shows up because a bomb has been planted at the venue by the Penguin. Kristen Bell is Supergirl and Uma Thurman is Lois Lane. Superman is portrayed as some kind of perverted sex fiend. The only reason I "liked"this segment is because Jason Sudeikis played Batman similar to his character Schmitty from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and that's only because his character in that is a dick.

As the film progresses, we find out that Dennis Quaid isn't some big director, but instead some crazy guy who has wandered in of the street with the hopes of getting his film made. But then in an insane twist, at the end we find out that the camera that was filming this was just a behind the scenes camera all along.

I don't know what the makers of this film were thinking, the same thing with the actors. Was Peter Farrelly trying to make some bold statement about the future of film? I don't think so. Were the actors, keep in mind that these are Oscar and Golden Globe worthy actors, just doing this movie as a bit of fun? Maybe, we'll never know. Two particularly offensive performances come from Stephen Merchant (Ricky Gervais best mate) who ends up with plastic surgery that has turned him Asian a la Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Terrance Howard (as in Terrance Howard from Crash, a Best Picture winner) plays a coach of an all black basketball team in 1959, who convinces his team that they can win purely because they are black. Come on, that's more racist than the whole of Django Unchained.

Verdict: It's unfunny, racist, disgusting and just plain horrible. Avoid at all costs. Go see any other movie.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is an uplifting movie about mental illness. It asks us what is normal and that everyone is crazy in their own little way.

It follows the story of Pat (Bradley Cooper), who has just been released from a mental health clinic after an eight month stint there because he nearly beat to death the man who his wife was having an affair with. He is then diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, which had previously gone undiagnosed. As he is trying to re-assimilate with normal life and planning a way to get back with his wife (who has a restraining order on him) from his parents attic (played by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver), he runs into an old friend, Ronnie (John Ortiz), who invites him for dinner with his wife. Pat reluctantly agrees to come.

At the dinner, Pat meets Ronnie's sister-in-law, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who has been dealing with depression since the death of her husband. She is also a recovering sex addict, after losing her job by sleeping with everyone in her office. Pat finds a kindred spirit in Tiffany, who he finds out is able to get a letter to Pat's wife. She will only do this on the condition that Pat will dance with her in an upcoming competition. He agrees to do this because he realises it will demonstrate that he has changed to his wife.

Meanwhile, Pat's father is running a bookie after he lost his job and hopes to open a restaurant with the money that he is making from the bets. He believes that Pat is his lucky charm and makes a big bet on the Philadelphia Eagles and wants Pat to be at the game. Pat has dance practice with Tiffany, but promises to go anyway, telling Tiffany that he'll be a little late to practice. At the game, Pat and his brother get in a fight with some heated Eagles fans and he ends up missing the dance practice. Pat's father loses his bet as well as all the money he wanted to use on his restaurant. Tiffany is also mad that he didn't show up so that they could try their big finishing move. She storms over to the house where everyone is and interacts with Pat's father for the first time. Pat's father is upset that Pat is spending all his time with Tiffany, as well as the fact that he just lost all his money to his friend Randy. Tiffany proposes a parlay to Randy that he will double the cash if the Eagles win the match on the same night as the dance competition. They also have to get an average of five for their routine to win the bet.

Pat thinks that this is insane and leaves. Tiffany comes up with a plan that if Pat thinks his wife will be there then he has to do it. He is convinced by it and the two continue the rest of their training until the big night arrives. They do their routine and win the bet. Pat then reveals that he had been in love with Tiffany the whole time, thus cementing that they will be together forever.

Bradley Cooper is on the rise. After his breakthrough in The Hangover, he has followed through nicely in Limitless and this film. To know that one of his idols in acting is De Niro makes the scenes that he shares with the legend all that more touching. He plays the bipolar Pat with an intensity that is sometimes needed.

I know a couple of weeks ago I said that I was in love with Emma Stone, well I think I am also in love with Jennifer Lawrence. She is an amazingly diverse actress. I have only seen her in Winter's Bone and X-Men: First Class, but she plays two polar opposites in those roles. Here she goes in another direction completely, but that's not a bad thing. Her chemistry with Cooper is electric and heartfelt as they go through the highs and lows.

De Niro is a powerhouse as usual, but he does have a vulnerable side as Pat Sr. We gradually learn that he has OCD, which explains his rituals to do with watching the Sunday games. His character feels as though he didn't give his son the time of day when he was younger and is trying to redeem that. Other stellar performances come from Jacki Weaver, John Ortiz and Chris Tucker, who plays one of Pat's friends from the mental health clinic.

Verdict: Writer/director David O. Russell has not only written a thought provoking and emotional story, but he has also pulled together a powerhouse cast that showcases past and future talent.

Zero Dark Thirty

First off, this is not a propaganda movie for the US, glorifying their operation to kill Osama bin Laden. It does tell the story, but it also shows the pain felt by both sides and that it wasn't just some clean in and out operation.

The story picks up two years after 9/11, with a young CIA operative (Jessica Chastain) is witnessing her first interrogation of a detainee at the hands of her new colleague Dan (Jason Clarke). Her character, Maya, has just been transferred to the US embassy in Pakistan, tasked with finding information about top al-Qaeda personnel. The detainee that they are interrogating has links to Saudi terrorists. They soon trick him into divulging information about Abu Ahmed, an old acquaintance, who, through information they can piece together from other detainees, is the courier between bin Laden and Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a ranking officer within al-Qaeda.

Many years later, Maya is able to set up a meet with the detained Abu Farraj, only to find that he is hiding the existence of Ahmed, which Maya interprets as Ahmed being a person of extreme interest. Her senior officer at the embassy (Kyle Chandler), believes Maya should focusing on bringing in known terrorists and be trying to find out where the next global attack will be, so that they can protect the homeland.

Over the next couple of years a lot of things happen in Maya's life. She survives a bombing at the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, her friend Dan is reassigned to Washington and her friend and co-worker Jessica is killed in a botched attempt to try and bring in one of bin Laden's inner circle that she had been spearheading. Whilst trying to find any information on Abu Ahmed, Maya comes across an interview with a detainee who says that he personally buried the man they know as Ahmed, his real name being Habib Sayeed, all the way back in 2001. This seems to have defeated Maya, until a junior officer in her office finds information from the Moroccan intelligence community saying that that man that was buried was actually the brother of the courier. His name is Ibrihim Sayeed and they are able to trace his phone number with the help of Dan. Before Maya can go anywhere with this information, she is attacked coming out of her home by insurgents and subsequently sent back to Washington.

Once they find Sayeed, the operatives are able to trace him to a compound in Abbotabad in Pakistan. Through continued surveillance, Maya soon believes that bin Laden himself is residing within the compound. This belief is not shared by her seniors, who deliberate on the risk of sending in a team to take out the occupants. The CIA chief (James Gandolfini) soon decides that sending in a team to the compound would be beneficial, as whoever this mystery man is, it would be a good idea to take him out.

So Maya is sent to Afghanistan, where she is to oversee the mission to the compound. A SEAL team is put together and with the latest in stealth helicopter technology, they fly into Abbotabad to assault the compound. One of the helicopters loses power and crash lands within the walls of the compound. The team goes in and obliterates the three men who are in there, including Osama bin Laden, whose body they take with them. They also take any hard drives and intel that they can get their hands on. Once they are back at base, the team is welcomed with open arms by everyone, whilst Maya is left to contemplate what she is to do with her life now that her goal that she has been working on for a decade is completed.

Katheryn Bigelow has put together a movie that pulls no punches. Whilst it's hard to tell what actually happened in the events leading up to the operation at the end of the movie, most of the events revolve around real bombings and the detaining of real life individuals. The casting of the movie is amazing.  None of the actors have huge star power, so they are believable in the roles that they play. Jessica Chastain is brilliant as Maya and you can really see that following through with this mission means everything to her. Jennifer Ehle is great as Maya's friend Jessica who really wants to show her friend that she wants to do her best on this mission. Mark Strong plays Maya's boss in Washington and really wants to believe that bin Laden is in Pakistan.

I found the torture scenes at the beginning to be confronting, but that is how matters were handled and it is a brutal and honest truth. The water-boarding scenes, in particular, were pretty full on. The mission at the end is shown to be a far from clean mission, resulting in the loss of a state of the art helicopter and civilian casualties that should have been avoided.

The film opens with a black screen where we hear the various radio chatter that happen on 9/11, including one iconic 911 call from one of the towers. The film also has news footage from various attacks throughout the decade, as well as press conferences from both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. These give insight into the world that was happening around the events of the film.

Verdict: Spanning almost a decade, this film shows that the events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden were not as easy as some might of thought. Although I was not a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, I think Katheryn Bigelow has done a much better job this time around.