Trailers Week 38: 29/03/15

Spectre

This is probably one of the most anticipated trailers of the year (up there with The Force Awakens, because who doesn't want to see more Star Wars?) In this trailer we get a glimpse of Bond's past, our old frenemy Mr. White and, of course, Christoph Waltz's shadow. You can't tell me he isn't Blofeld!

Southpaw

This movie comes from the mind of Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter and is about a boxer who loses custody of his only daughter and has to prove that he has left his violent past behind her and won't put her at any risk. Jake Gyllenhaal continues his run of precisely chosen dramatic roles. Also starring Forrest Whitaker and Rachel McAdams.

Slow West

This is Wes Anderson meets the Coen Brothers doing an old school Western in the same vein as the The Searchers. A young Scottish man travels to America to find his love after she is forced to flee. Bounty hunters are also searching for her and her father. Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Caren Pistorius, Rory McCann and Ben Mendelsohn.

Maggie

Hopefully this is going to be the last we see of the zombie genre, just because know Arnie is in on the action. Schwarzenegger plays a man whose daughter is slowly turning into one, but will do anything to protect her. Also starring Abigail Breslin.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Ethan Hunt returns with the gang to take out a group that is the polar opposite of his IMF. Tom Cruise proves that he can still do Tom Cruise-y things despite being over 50, he can fight, drive motorbikes and do physically impossible stunts. Also starring Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames' hat collection.

Kung Fu Killer

Donnie Yen stars as an ageing Kung Fu Grandmaster who helps police track down a serial killer who is killing grandmasters of different styles. Hong Kong cinema doesn't get any better.

Dope

This movie may be about the Golden Age of hip-hop, but all the modern internet references have me confused. All I know is that it looks dope. Starring Shameik Moore, Kiersey Clemons, Zoë Kravitz and Tony Revolori.

Boychoir

It's like Whiplash for kids. A kid with natural singing ability joins a youth choir much to the annoyance of the elite people who run it. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Eddie Izzard and Kathy Bates.

A Little Chaos

You've gotta love Alan Rickman. I mean, who doesn't like Alan Rickman? Well, now Alan Rickman has directed his second feature A Little Chaos, written by (in part) Alan Rickman and starring, among others Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman.

The King of France, Louis XIV (Alan Rickman) is making extensive changes to the Palace of Versailles, including a huge landscaping plan to vastly improve the palace gardens. Louis has put André Le Nôtre (Matthias Schoenaerts), a man that is very much following in his father's footsteps, in charge of the project, with several other designers competing to supplement his designs. One such landscaper is Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet), who dismisses the structured approach of Nôtre in favour of a more chaotic design. Nôtre rejects her plans at first, but soon he decides that a little chaos could be exactly what the palace gardens require.

There have been a lot of period pieces set in both pre and post-revolutionary France, often  large in scale and covering years, if not decades of history. A Little Chaos on the other hand is about a relatively insignificant, yet still beautiful construction in the gardens of Versailles, and its narrow scope is refreshing. The world is a microcosm of the era, with not only the male-led hierarchy an indictment of its time but a subtle dichotomy between the beauty of the garden projects and the diseases and suffering that was occurring at the time. A point which is hardly touched upon until the final stages of the film, where it's laboured just a bit too much in one scene. There's also a back story for Sabine which is revealed slowly in flashbacks throughout the film, a structure which I found a bit irritating with ultimately, not much of a pay off. 

The plot is well rounded, with a good balance of character development and well..uh landscaping. I have no real idea how historically accurate it is, I know that the outdoor ballroom exists at Versailles but nothing about its construction. However I personally found it very interesting and liked the specificity of the story. For those who like the sweeping historical epics though, this may not appeal. Sitting at just under two hours, I did feel that it could probably have been cut down to ninety minutes. It's not excessively slow but I did find myself looking at the time at a couple of points. It develops at quite a good pace but towards the end it felt like it was trying to tie-up a whole lot of loose ends from diverging plot structures that probably didn't need to exist in the first place. 

The acting all round is fantastic. Kate Winslet is always able to draw empathy from the audience and playing Sabine is no exception. The trauma that Sabine's experienced in her past may not work very well in furthering the plot, but she's clearly a passionate and driven woman. Also it's nice not to see Winslet bare all on the screen again...well sort of...there is a very PG-13 sex scene. Matthias Schoenaerts, as the only character with anything resembling a French accent, brings some mystery to André Le Nôtre, and Alan Rickman proves his worth as a character actor, bringing out the eccentricities of Louis XIV whether they were historically there or not, that's right, he Rickmanizes (If it's not a word, it should be) Louis XIV. One scene in particular, a conversation in an enclosed garden between Sabine and Louis, elevates Louis' personality immensely.

The visuals are very impressive, especially the sweeping landscape shots, and the set design and costuming has the flare of such a powerful aristocracy. There's a sway towards simplistic montages in A Little Chaos but they don't ever become too tedious. A Little Chaos has flaws, but it's charming nonetheless. It's well written and has great performances. Also, don't forget Alan Rickman.

Trailers Week 37: 22/03/15

The Transporter Refueled

The Transporter series continues without the ripped body of Jason Statham. Instead we get Ed Skrein. You know him, he was in an episode of Game of Thrones one time. The new movie also has cars, girls and fighting, like a cheap James Bond knock-off. Also starring Loan Chabanol, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Tatiana Pajkovic and Ray Stevenson.

Paper Towns

This is the next of John Green's young adult novels to be adapted for the screen. It is about a popular high school girl who goes missing and the boy who thinks he can find her through the power of love. It's Gone Girl gone teen next on Sick Sad World. Starring Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff.

Pixels
Hey, it's that Futurama episode where classic video game characters attack New York City made for the big screen. I'm not sure if this movie is going to work. The people who were alive when these games were made won't care about it and younger people won't understand it. Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan.

Max
After his handler dies, a bomb detection dog is returned to his family. The dog bonds with soldier's little brother. This movie could work as like a modern Lassie. Starring Lauran Graham, Robbie Amell, Jay Hernandez and Thomas Haden Church.

The Vatican Tapes
It's no secret that I love movies about possession, so this one just leaps out at me. It reminds a little of Deliver Us From Evil mixed with The Last Exorcism. Starring Michael Peña, Djimon Hounsou and Kathleen Robertson.

Lambert & Stamp
This documentary is about the two men behind one of the greatest rock bands ever, The Who. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp set out to make a film about a band and ended up making a band.

Big Eyes

"Espresso, what's that, like reefer?"

Tim Burton's signature gothic, often fantastical style has never particularly appealed to me. I haven't been sold by his reimagining of classic films, which in itself goes against my opinion on adaptations. However it's difficult not to appreciate some of his classics, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Big Fish etc. His latest film Big Eyes, a biopic about artist Margaret Keane, does away with many of the Burtonesque themes, with a cheerful opening act that thinly veils a story of duplicity and suppression.

In the mid-1950s, Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) runs away from her husband, taking her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) and her paintings with her to San Francisco. Her work is unlike any other, often portraying young children with over sized eyes. Whilst selling her paintings for loose change at an outdoor market, she meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), a fellow artist, who takes great interest in her work. The two hit it off, getting married shortly after. Walter helps Margaret get her art recognised, although he starts to take credit for it, believing that nobody would be interested in paintings from female artists. Soon the Keane 'big eyes' paintings grow into an empire, but the real artist is being hidden from the world. 

Whilst Big Eyes has a completely different style to most of Burton's other films, he doesn't hold back from injecting stylistic choices all over the place. For instance, there are sections of the film that are shown on a TV, and these appear to have been shot with a fish-eye lens, not only to mimic the curved front of CRT televisions but also to draw the centre of the screen closer to the audience in quite a confronting way. There are other sections that seem very heavy-handed, almost hitting the wrong points in the overall narrative arc and becoming overly emotional. But all those points aside, Big Eyes presents a captivating story that's augmented with skillful portrayals.

Amy Adams is a tremendous actor who's played some great roles in recent years, and yet again here she breathes life into her character. Over the course of the film she's liberated, then suppressed, hesitant, angry, then empowered. It's a great representation of her range as an actor, and of the troubles that Margaret had to deal with. Danny Huston narrates and plays a journalist but doesn't really do much for the story, and Jon Polito looks the same now as he did in Miami Vice back in the 80s. Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman and Terence Stamp add to what is already a very strong cast.

The many faces of Walter are perfectly articulated by Waltz, and his performance defines Big Eyes for me. One minute he's charming his way up the social ladder, the next he's explaining to Margaret just why her work is actually his. It may be over-the-top but it's a lively performance, which is what I always love about Waltz. Walter is more than just a liar though, his personality is fragmented. To some degree it's as if he actually believes that he painted the big eyes. Waltz grins his way through the film yet the inner complexities and deceptions that define his character radiate so obviously to the viewer that it's agonising to see how effective his dishonesty is. The dramatic irony leaves the viewer on an excruciating precipice, waiting for Margaret to reveal the secret to the world, to break free. It's here that Big Eyes is the most effective.

This isn't Burton's greatest accomplishment, and probably won't appeal as much to his hardcore fan base, but I'm glad that Margaret Keane's story got put onto the big screen, even if it is a little Hollywood. Adams and Waltz are fantastic.

Chappie

                                                                                                    "Watch out! He's as smart as a dunny rat."

Neill Blomkamp has made the same movie over and over again and Chappie, his latest, is an attempt at funneling all the working elements of his previous films into a singular effort. Chappie is set in near-future Johannesburg, whose police force has recently began to utilise a local weapons manufacturer's "Scout" droids which are designed by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel). When one Scout is decommissioned Deon decides to test his new artificial intelligence software on the bot but both are kidnapped by a gang comprising of America (Jose Pablo Cantillo) and fictionalised members of Die Antwoord, Yo-landi and Ninja. Together, they bring the titular character to life, a sentient robot, who's child-like nature results in it being manipulated by the gang, but who's weaponised being leads to it being a target.

Chappie shares much more with Blomkamp's former films than just cast and crew.  The location and some of the production design remains unchanged from District 9, Elysium, Halo:Landfall and Alive in Joburg, as do much of the photo-realistic special effects. Chappie shares aspects of it's beginning and ending with that of District 9, as both begin with documentary-style world building and end on a non-human character accepting his fate as a fugitive. There's also the morally bankrupt corporation (headed by a nearly absent Sigourney Weaver) which employs a dangerously unhinged military psychopath (Hugh Jackman) exactly as there was in both District 9 and Elysium (Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copely). Trent Opaloch returns as Director of Photography, and again uses combination of hand-held, helicopter documentary-style shots, gorgeous slow-motion photography and environments awash with browns and greys to marvelous effect, as he did on both District 9 and Elysium.

                                                "I'm as cross as a frog in a sock!"
 

Much like Luc Besson's Lucy from last year, Chappie is stupid sold as smart, Chappie doesn't go for too much pseudo-science but instead for a film that could discuss what life and consciousness truly mean, or make a point on human and robot-controlled police states, or crime and the criminal mind, it instead chooses to have a robot learn how to be a walk and talk like a gangster from Die Antwoord. There's no style, no depth, no dimension at all, it's all about appearance, the illusion of cool, painfully style over substance. Chappie goes from the birth of sentience to full-fledged gangster in mere days, and it's these moments that outweigh and out-shine the attempts at humanisation through Yo-landi and Deon. Chappie refers to Yo-landi, Ninja and Deon as Mother, Father and Maker, but Yo-landi has a child-like mind as well, Ninja is borderline sociopathic and overtly selfish, and Deon is largely absent and does little to earn his title of Maker over Chappie.

Blomkamp's approach to information dumping and exposition is as remarkable as it is often over-simplified. The film opens on a world-building documentary, Deon vaguely describes his actions and motives to a diary-cam but is open and direct in his actions to himself when alone, and Jackman is constantly having to read out what his computer screen says when the words are presented on camera. Visually, Blomkamp rarely wastes props and devices, things are clearly arranged and utilised and this is used most notably in the replacement of parts for Chappie itself. A damaged robot is brought to a mechanic who replaces it's damaged blue ear with an orange one, already establishing Chappie as separate before he is even birthed. Later Chappie loses his arm and it is replaced with a spare, though when he finally sees another scout, a test version with the same arm, he learns a lesson about his own life. It's the least flashy element of his directorial style but nontheless a consistent part of his process and one of the most effective elements in Chappie, and it actually shows Blomkamp is a better director than he is a co-writer.

The pitfall of Blomkamp's work begins and quite possibly ends with his writing, in recent weeks he's admitted as much. He co-wrote Chappie with his wife Terry Tatchell, and between Die Antwoord, Dev Patel and Hugh Jackman, the problems are grating and overt. Die Antwoord improvise to varied effect, Dev Patel is wooden and un-believable in his dialogue but is still a professional, and Hugh Jackman's appearance and dialogue are parodical, bringing an absurd humour into this depressing world. There are absurd character choices, confusing dialogue and under-developed characters aplenty, and it's shocking that several of these characters have already appeared in Blomkamp films in some form, as they are so poorly created. Chappie is the only real human element in the film, in terms of characterisation, movement and dialogue, obviously most of this is because of Copley. Much of Die Antwoord's dialogue is obviously improvisation and adaptation, and at times it's real and effective, but the famous aesthetic of "Zef" tends to take over the film world. It creates the appearance that Blomkamp has lost control and because the world and appearance of all the gangsters, not just Die Antwoord, is so bizarre and unexplored, the entire world comes off as mindless, stupid and child-like. Hippo, one of the principal villains played by Blomkamp regular Brandon Auret, sports a hairstyle that his prepubscent sister was apparently in charge of, and all of his dialogue is subtitled. Yo-landi is child-like in temperament, mental age and style, owning a bright pink Uzi, clothes with "Sex" and "Fuck" and cat heads emblazoned upon them, and a shockingly bizarre hairstyle. And Ninja is an idiot through and through. Mentality, motivation, design and acting, The man dominates the screen in the worst way possible. To reiterate, Jackman's Vincent Moore is a parodical character, whose mullet is often in close-up, whose dialogue would make Wolf Creek's Mick Taylor blush at the boganism of it, and whose outfit in the entire finale is head-to-toe khaki. Crikey, is it a performance worth watching.

Chappie is a mess, but gladly it as a character is as adorable, charming and naive as expected. Brought to life with marvelous CGI, performance and cinematography, but utterly wasted in writing and character direction, Chappie is surely Blomkamp's most complete work to date, too bad it's completely shit. Worth watching on a lazy night when you don't want to think.

Manny Lewis

"Don't piss on the ducks son!"

Australian comedian Carl Barron creates and stars as a fictionalised version of himself in Manny Lewis, the story of "a lonely comedian who tries his hand at love". But how well does Barron's act translate from stage to screen?

Manny Lewis (Carl Barron) is a highly successful stand-up comedian. He's often getting recognised wherever he goes, and is in talks with his friend Jimmy (Damien Garvey) to do a big American tour soon, but Manny is lonely. One night after calling up a sexy hotline, he speaks to Caroline (Leeanna Walsman) who he seems to form a connection with. Soon afterwards, at his local coffee shop he meets Maria, who coincidentally is Caroline (her pseudonym) from the hotline, though whilst she recognises his voice, she does not divulge this to him. Manny and Maria connect well over a short period, but Manny's lack of confidence - and to some degree hers too - could prevent them from forming a relationship.

There must be a very fine line between Carl Barron and Manny Lewis, at least that's how it feels watching the film. The shared personality between the man and his character is indicative of just how much of a passion project this is for him. It's a film with heart, but Manny Lewis also tries to be a romantic comedy, and that's a very difficult goal to achieve. It's a film for the Barron fans. If you don't align to his dry wit and often monotonous delivery then you won't be that interested. I certainly appreciate Barron's stand-up - in fact, the sequences that blend his stage act with the character's emotional arc and by far the strongest parts of the film - but there seems to be a crucial element missing from the romantic story line. These two characters are both socially awkward, and it's sweet  to see them attempt to form a romantic bond, but conversely, the audience's connection with the two is quite limited. 

Manny Lewis lives and breathes Australian. From the Iced Vovos, Tim Tam slamming, and self-depreciating sense of humour, to the notable locations around Sydney that would be instantly recognisable to locals. It's a film that plays on our own stereotypes, not necessarily those that come to mind when you mention Australia overseas (contrary to popular belief, we don't all go around hunting crocodiles, playing knifey-spoony and kicking each other with oversized boots). The creators of the film state that they see Sydney as another character in the film, and this is achieved very well. But the Aus-centric tone of the film could well be a double edged sword as it narrows the appeal (It's currently only slated for release in Australia and New Zealand). 

Overall the acting is very good from the core cast. Barron is able to channel himself into Manny with ease and seems very comfortable in front of the camera. Veteran Aussie actor Roy Billing is underused but fits into his role as Manny's father very well, and Leeanna Walsman seems to have great chemistry with Barron. The simplistic cinematography, with its shallow depth of field and calming representation of Sydney late at night (from my experience there's generally more drunks around) makes it a visually appealing feature, playing to the strengths of what I imagine was a small budget.

Manny Lewis is not a particularly romantic film. It hits the right notes but somehow misses the emotion. On the other hand, it has a poignant sense of isolation that you can't help but feel takes inspiration straight from Carl's life. At the end of the day, it's a decently funny movie with heart.

Inherent Vice

Reading Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel before seeing this film really gave me a better understanding of the forces that are in play in the story. That doesn't mean that Paul Thomas Anderson's latest undertaking is at all confusing, rather it is a much more streamlined comprehensible adaptation of the novel that cuts through a lot of confusing tangents that are cut straight from a drugged up hippie's head.

Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator operating out of Gordita Beach in LA. One night, his ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston) appears out of nowhere to tell him of a plot to kidnap her current boyfriend, millionaire real estate developer Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts). Doc is soon drawn into a complex web of conspiracies that involve a supposedly dead saxophone player Coy Harlingen (Owen Wilson), a rough police lieutenant Bigfoot Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) and the mysterious Golden Fang.

Paul Thomas Anderson is really a master with his camera work and all his usuals come into play. He is not one to shy away from long shots, but the one in this one is different. Normally his long takes rely on big choreographed movements as the camera flows from room to room and follows various characters. In Inherent Vice, he instead has a quite static long take that includes an eight minute monologue from Katherine Waterston that ends a little abruptly. There is one scene that stood out for me in particular that was a dialogue between Doc and a client that is done entirely in low angle close-ups with no establishing shot.

This film is littered with some great comedic moments, whether this be Doc's propensity to throw himself around like a rag doll or the fact that Denis (pronounced Dee-nis) can't drive. Being set in the early 70s, there are a lot of jokes about hippie culture and paranoia. Martin Short's dentist character Dr Rudy Blatnoyd is great fun for this, as he openly condemns hippies whilst partaking in illicit substances at the same time and getting everybody paranoid in the process.

Joaquin Phoenix is super fun as Doc. He seems to be channeling the character from the book with a dash of The Dude thrown for good measure. His love for Shasta knows no bounds, despite it being a very destructive relationship. Johanna Newsom plays his spirit guide Sortilège, although it's not quite clear if she exists in the physical world. Josh Brolin gives incredible depth to Bigfoot, a scary pancake loving giant. Owen Wilson acts as the whole lynchpin to the story and has an immense presence, despite appearing in a handful of scenes. Katherine Waterston is just amazing as Shasta and you will grow to love her as Doc does. I think everyone will agree that the movie does need more Benecio Del Toro, playing Doc's attorney Sauncho Smilax, Esq., and a crazy Eric Roberts whose couple of mumbled lines are just hilarious.

This hippy comedy/mystery is masterfully shot and acted. Anderson has been faithful to the source material and made what I like to call a pure adaptation; capturing the essence of the source without using everything that is there. Some great acting all round, particularly from Phoenix and Brolin. Beware the Golden Fang.

Trailers Week 36: 15/03/15

San Andreas

Unfortunately this film isn't based on the hit 2004 video game and rather the eponymous fault line that runs up the California coastline. It looks like an intense rollercoaster ride, what with the cracking of the earth in twain, giant waves and Paul Giamatti talking to me in a very stern voice. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffudd and Paul Giamatti. Let's hope that wave doesn't crest.

Adult Beginners
Movies about adults who don't have their life together are becoming their own genre now that there are so many of them. The formula follows as such: [Character] loses [insert material or emotional value] and has to move back in with [family member] to figure out what they are doing with their life. This time he moves in with his pregnant sister! Starring Nick Kroll, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Joel McHale and a whole cast of recent SNL alums.

The Girl Is In Trouble
I think the only reason you're going to watch this very generic looking Spike Lee produced thriller is to see everybody's favourite Foreign Exchange Student Wilmer Valderrama play a psychotic Latino gangster. Other than that it looks boring as all hell. Also starring Columbus Short, Alicja Bachleda, Jesse Spencer and dubstep.

Tomorrowland
Brad Bird (The Incredibles) directs this Disney movie based on one of the areas in Disneyland. A girl finds a pin that transports her to an amazing future world, only as long as she is holding onto it. A handsome scientist promises to take her there. Starring Britt Robertson, George Clooney and Hugh Laurie.

Ride
An uptight and controlling mother follows her wayward son to California to discover that he would rather be a surfer that go to college. Amen brother! She soon finds that maybe that life is better than the on she's been living. Starring Helen Hunt, Luke Wilson and Brenton Thwaites.

Top Five

Chris Rock's latest directorial effort Top Five is a sort of self-analysis on the part of Rock looking back at his own career and the choices that he has made. While it does not perhaps overtly cover every aspect Rock's career, there are enough parallels to be drawn.

Andre Allen (Rock) is a former stand up comedian who made the leap to acting and made himself a star by starring in a buddy cop franchise as a talking bear cop. He returns to his hometown of New York to promote his latest more serious film Uprize, where he plays the leader of the biggest slave rebellion to ever happen. He is due to marry reality TV star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) in a big televised spectacle, but first has to partake in his equally televised and scripted bachelor party. In the day leading up to the party, he is joined by New York Times reporter Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) who is going to follow him around and do a profile piece about his career.

Top Five is a tough movie to crack. It doesn't really fit into any genre (comedy or drama) so you're not sure if you should be laughing at any antics. It does seem to be a personal film for Rock, as his character is struggling with fame, sobriety and falling out of love with the thing that made him famous in the first place; comedy, but it didn't really reach out to me, as I'm not struggling with being super famous. I will give the film some props for boldly looking at the structure of reality TV in a negative light.

The movie is also centred two rather large flashback centrepieces that I have trouble placing in the overall story. One is of Andre's story of when he knew he'd hit rock bottom with his drinking problem. It is set ten years earlier and is when he is on a tour in Houston and ends up sleeping with some hookers at the insistence of his contact there, Jazzy Dee (Cedric the Entertainer). The other story is from Chelsea Brown about how she comes finally to the conclusion that her boyfriend Brad (Anders Holm) is gay, due to an incident involving a tampon covered in hot sauce. These stories both have fun little jokes and do serve in creating a bond between Andre and Chelsea, but also disrupt the flow of the timeframe of the movie.

Both Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson are very good in this movie, although Dawson is slightly better (that's understandable given that Rock also wrote and directed the movie) and they both have excellent chemistry. It is the supporting cast that is more fun to watch. JB Smoove plays Andre's bodyguard and delivers some of the more poignant messages in the movie. Cedric the Entertainer is incredibly creepy as Jazzy Dee, but his character is particularly funny. Both Tracy Morgan and Jay Pharoah are exceptional as childhood friends of Andre and Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg and Jerry Seinfeld all make cameos at Andre's bachelor party.

Whilst this film does have some structural problems, it is very fun. Rock is still finding his footing as a director, but conveys his message well. There are some incredibly rewarding moments in the film that happen toward the end that really tie up the character arcs well.

Focus

Will Smith's character in this movie is constantly telling everyone to not lose focus when they are pulling a con, but he is constantly ignoring his own advice. When watching a movie about con artists, you don't want to lose focus and keep up with what's going on all the time, but even if you are a seasoned vet when it comes to watching these things and you think you know what's going on, clever writing will always throw you for a loop.

This movie begins with the longest prologue to a film I have ever seen (it goes for almost half the film), where veteran conman Nicky (Smith) comes across Jess (Margot Robbie), who, despite throwing the most obvious con that every sucker knows by know and fails miserably at it, impresses Nicky so much that he decides to bring her into his crew. After a series of small cons (and one big one), Nicky cuts Jess loose because it doesn't help to get tied up in the game. Three years later, Nicky is working for Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), a Formula 1 race car owner who wants him to misdirect his rival teams to get an advantage at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix. But when Jess turns up saying she is Garriga's girlfriend, Nicky starts to lose focus.

The script is the strongest and weakest part of this film. The cons are perfectly written and fun when they are pulled off (just as they are in any film of this nature). There is a certain satisfaction in being in on how misdirection is being used against other people, like if you were the only other person in the room who knew how a magician was about to pull off an illusion. Again there are times that you don't know how something is going to end up, but being happy and relieved when everything goes to plan. I also thought that I was going to be able to pick the climax of the film, but found that I was off by just a small margin (if a con movie can con a con man, then it's good writing). 

But the script also shows weakness. The whole romantic subplot between Nicky and Jess is such a stretch. I know that they are trying to go for mass appeal, but people can enjoy a single focus film. Also the film uses a lot of confidence terminology that might fly over most audience's heads. Hopefully everyone will know that a "mark" is a target, but when you get down to shills, salting and the like, it can get a bit fast and loose.

It's a shame as well that most of the enjoyment in the film comes from the supporting cast. Robbie and Smith are just treading the boards and saying their lines at the right point and not really offering much aside from that. Adrian Martinez and Brennan Brown, who both play members of Nicky's crew, are so good that you know that when they come on screen there is bound to be some laughs. The same is said of BD Wong's Liyuan, one of their early marks, he plays such a fun character that is unlike most of the roles he takes. Rodrigo Santoro serves amiably as the antagonist of the piece.

If you can look past the wooden leads or poor romantic undertones, Focus is a pretty solid con artist movie that will keep you guessing. While it may not be as cool as something like Oceans Eleven (and it's trying so hard to be that, if only you gave it a chance), it does have some fun schemes that are good to watch unfold.

Seventh Son

                                               "To be no-good at a bad thing is good."

A wise and battle-weary Old Man is confronted by the greatest enemy from his past and recruits a young farm-Boy who slowly learns his destiny through interaction with a mysterious artifact he owns. As the boy grows, the Man, though grumpy, comes to respect and rely on the Boy, the Boy in turn slowly learns to accept the teachings of the Old Man and together the boy falls in love and they defeat the Evil and its Empire.

That's pretty much the basic plot outline of nearly every fantasy film made since Star Wars at the very least, whether it's Science Fantasy like Star Wars (or as TV Tropes dubs it, the Standard Sci-fi Setting), or the Standard Fantasy Setting from a popular book (see: Eragon). The latest incarnation of this tired trope is helmed by Russian director Sergei Bodrov, director and writer of Quickie, Prisoner of the Mountains, and Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan. Based on Joseph Delaney's 2004 fantasy novel, The Spook's Apprentice, Seventh Son follows Tom Ward, the seventh son of a seventh son as Jeff Bridges' Master Gregory, a Spook (basically a Monster Hunter Gandalf), recruits him to defeat the recently escaped evil witch Mother Malkin, played by Julianne Moore, who should know better.

Seventh Son is an awful, boring and completely unoriginal film in almost every way. The source material is apparently loosely based on Lancashire, the English county Delaney is from, and yet the film is shot in the lush wilderness of British Columbia, a Canadian province. Other sets range from Christian churchs to Meditteranean market-harbour-cities, and finally to an ancient Roman-themed deserted mountain fortress with Arabic interior decorations. The deluge of influences on the production design becomes so distracting that the first time you see Asian peasants carrying water buckets in the background you're confused, but by the time the Hindu protector god Vishnu appears alongside a giant salamander and a pair of dragons to destroy the harbour-city one no longer cares about a consistent universe. In terms of costuming it cannot be stressed enough how obviously this film wants the viewer to sub-consciously align it with Star Wars with the fact that Tom, Gregory and in one dream sequence Tom's mother all dress like fucking Jedi. It's more confusing than Lando Calrissian wearing Han Solo's outfit at the end of Empire Strikes Back.

Ironically, there's little to no magic used besides constant transformations into bear, dragon or salamander by villains, and besides those creatures and some worthless ghosts that are somewhere between a Dementor and the ghost army from Return of the King, there are no creatures or monsters in this magical world. Tom and Gregory's repertoire of magical ability is as extensive and interesting as their names are exotic as their main solutions to magical shape-shifter attack is throw glitter, light torch or swing sword.

On the performances, Ben Barnes is as handsome as a young David Wenham look-alike should be, but otherwise predictably bland white-bread protagonist. He offers no charm, no personality, and his character goes from gormless farmboy to trained warrior apparently by plot magic. His lineage that is the reason for his selection and the film's title is inconsequential, his father appears in one scene (you'd be mistaken for thinking the father of the seventh son would matter, but no), and any power he has comes from a magic amulet the audience is told his mother gave him that is ignored before the third act. His love interest is so worthless she only warrants mentioning for her AWFUL lines, but the actress' name is Alicia Vikander. Jeff Bridges must have been on another planet making this film, probably the one from Zardoz as he's doing a Sean Connery impersonation via his Rooster Cogburn character from True Grit. His constant goofy expressions and gruff demeanour only inflame the burning apathy in the hearts of the audience. Julianne Moore is utterly wasted in this role but is the one enjoyable aspect of it because she's Julianne Moore.

Seventh Son is a waste of time and money. That is the worst thing that I can possibly say about a film, that it is worth ignoring. There's no magic, no mystery, no personality and no care for this project. The amount of talent wasted on this project (Moore, Bridges, and writer Steven Knight) is damn near a criminal act, and if there's any film worth forgetting about this year, it's Seventh Son.

Classic Movie Review: Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)

As the title of this review suggests, this is going to be a two part review to cover the two parts of the French gangster film Mesrine which is about the gangster Jacques Mesrine.

Everyone loves a gangster film. I think it's the appeal of watching something that many of us would never even dream of doing. Even more appealing is when these films are based on real criminals. Such is the case of Jacques Mesrine, a French gangster who committed many robberies, murders and kidnappings across France and Canada in the 1960s and 70s. His life was violent and brutal and ripe for a movie to be made about him.

This first film chronicles his life from 1959 to 1972 and his beginnings in the criminal underworld of France. After returning from military service in Algeria, Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) is forced to look for work. Despite his father getting him a legitimate job in a factory, he is drawn to work for Guido (Gérard Depardieu), a gangster to whom he is introduced by his childhood friend Paul (Gilles Lellouche). Mesrine starts to show a great aptitude for successfully carrying out robberies and begins to make large amounts of money. On a holiday to the Canary Islands, he meets Sofia (Elena Anaya) and he soon marries her after she becomes pregnant. After a stint in prison in 1960, Mesrine promises Sofia that he has left the criminal world, but is soon dragged back in.

Mesrine soon is divorced from Sofia after physically abusing her and begins committing robberies with Jeanne Schneider (Cécile De France). The pair eventually have to leave France because of the attention that they are getting from rival gangsters. They settle in Montreal and Mesrine meets John-Paul Mercier (Roy Dupuis), who becomes his new partner in crime.

This film portrays Mesrine as a likeable guy, despite being a murderer and thief. There is a moment during his first robbery where he has to think quickly to avoid being caught and this results in a lighthearted moment, but most of the film tends to head toward darker and more tense moments, including times when he has to murder rival gangsters or break out of a rather harsh prison. The movie uses glamorous shots and clever editing techniques such as split screen to show the lavish lifestyle that Mesrine leads.

Vincent Cassel is amazing in the lead role. I had only previously known him for roles in Oceans Twelve and Black Swan, but he can do so much with a major character like this. Gérard Depardieu plays the role that is perfectly suited for him in Guido, he carries off the menace with the threat of violence so well. Both Cécile De France and Roy Dupuis support Cassel superbly in the latter part of the film as their characters change so much.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct is a great beginning to this saga. The filmmaking is suave and portrays the 60s in the cool light that they were. Cassel is such an absorbing leading man.

Tune in next week for the review of Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1.

Trailers Week 35: 08/03/15

Brotherly Love

This movie looks at the life of a gang member in Philadelphia as he tries to keep his family together and stay alive. Starring Keke Palmer, Faizon Love, Cory Hardrict, Quincy Brown and Macy Gray.

The Face of an Angel

A documentary filmmaker is commissioned to make a film based on the memoir written by a woman who was involved in a very public murder trial. Directed by Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, The Killer Inside Me) and starring Daniel Brühl, Kate Beckinsale and everyone's favourite supermodel Cara Delevingne.

No Escape

An expatriate American family find themselves in the middle of a violent coup in Asia and have to figure out a way of safely getting to their embassy. Starring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell (who I always confuse with Amanda Peet) and Pierce Brosnan. Directed by John Erick Dowdle.

Dark Places

This movie looks convoluted as all hell. A woman who saw her family murdered when she was a child is forced to go through all the pain again as they search for the actual killer. Starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Chloë Moretz and Christina Hendricks.

Mr. Holmes

An ageing Sherlock Holmes (which is impossible because the last we saw of him he was pushed over a waterfall) is suffering from Alzheimer's, but is contracted to solve one final case. Starring Ian McKellan and Laura Linney.

Self/Less 

Ryan Reynolds stars in another body swap movie, this time about a dying real estate developer who is offered to transfer his life into another body. Soon he starts to experience the memories of the former owner. Also starring Matthew Goode and Sir Ben Kingsley. It sounds a lot like Face/Off if you ask me.

The Sisterhood of Night

I think I saw an episode of The X-Files that was similar to this. A group of small town girls are accused of being a part of a satanic cult because for some reason that terrifies small town people in America (well actually the case of the West Memphis Three is still in our collective consciousness). Starring Kara Hayward, Georgie Henley and Kal Penn.

Unfinished Business

Director Ken Scott and Vince Vaughn team up once again in the comedy Unfinshed Business. With a strong cast, 90-minute running time and following in a similar vein to the Jump Street series, this promises to be another bite-sized fun American comedy, at least that's what I had hoped.

Daniel Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) works for a horrible boss (different movie), Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller). One day, he decides to quit and start his own business, going into direct competition with Chuck. He recruits Timothy (Tom Wilkinson), whose just been made redundent, and Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), a special-needs man who just failed an interview. One year later, they're coming close to making a deal with a big client, so they travel to Europe. But things get complicated when it turns out that Chuck's company is also vying for the client.

Unfinished Business was written by Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness), and unfortunately it has a very weak plot. The unlikely party-goers theme has been done several times before, peaking with 22 Jump Street, but here it's just feels tacked-on and not much fun. I honestly can't even rememeber how they ended up doing all the stupid crap that they did. I would never have guessed that I would see Tom Wilkinson starring alongside Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco, smoking a bong, taking (what I assume is) ecstasy tablets and dancing in slow-motion whilst topless women have a pillow fight around him, but then again, he is having somewhat of a renaissance with unusual roles (an Australian cop in Felony, the U.S president in Selma). Suffice to say, this is his weirdest and worst role in recent years.

Dave Franco plays a mildly-autistic "special" young man, who is often the butt of the jokes, and Franco's quirky performance is by far the best part of the film. Unfortunately though, the comedic elements are lukewarm. It doesn't have the huge volume of jokes that attack you from all angles in similar comedies, and the few jokes that are there often don't deliver. This is the kind of comedy that's good for a mild chuckle but will never have you erupting in laughter, something which I was able to test with the three or four mostly silent other people sitting in the cinema with me. On a side-note, there's a surprising amount of nudity in Unfinished Business, with a comparatively high penis-to-breast ratio of somewhere around 4 to 50, take of that what you will...look I was kinda bored, okay.

Vince Vaughn plays the grounded, sensible one, which also makes his character rather dull, and Nick Frost is surprisingly lively for the badly-written part that he recieved. On almost every level this film is just meh. I should disclose that the American sense of humour exhibited here is definitely not aligned with my own, but that's no excuse, because I've really enjoyed similar films over the years like the Jump Street films. It's somewhat saved by Franco's performance and the situations that Wilkinson ends up in, but that's not enough to make it a good movie.

Trailers Week 34: 01/03/15

Love & Mercy

A movie about the multi-talented lead singer of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson is long overdue. This film uses an old school technique of having two people play a younger and older version of the character, something we're never going to see again since Boyhood came out. Starring Paul Dano and John Cusack as Wilson. Also starring Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti.

Alex of Venice

The ever amazing Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a woman who suddenly becomes a single mother and decides to start her whole life over whilst making sure her family doesn't fall apart. Also starring Don Johnson, Derek Luke, Chris Messina and Julianna Guill.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

In 1982, a group of kids set out to make a shot for shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but before they could film the final sequence (the Flying Wing fight, you know the one), they had a falling out and were unable to complete. Thirty years later, filmmaker and fanboy Eli Roth sets out to find these boys, now men, and allow them to finish filming their remake.

Ktown Cowboys

A group of Korean friends realise that they are at a turning point in their lives and realise that they are no longer able to live their party lifestyles anymore. They decide to go and have one massive last night out in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles.

Like Sunday, Like Rain
This independent drama from actor Frank Whaley (Swimming with Sharks, Pulp Fiction) is about a young woman who becomes a nanny for a young genius boy who lives in Manhattan. Starring Leighton Meester, Debra Messing, ageing rocker Billy Joe Armstrong and Julian Shatkin.

A Royal Night Out
A never before told story of the time Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth and her sister Margaret went out partying the day that WWII was declared over. Starring Sarah Gadon, Rupert Everett and Emily Watson.

The Lady In The Van
Maggie Smith stars in this hilarious looking comedy about an elderly woman who lives in a van on the street and then ends up staying for 15 years. Also starring Dominic Cooper, James Corden and Jim Broadbent.

Superfast!
Sorry to put you guys through this, but we have to report on it. This one is brought to you by the people who made Meet The Spartans et al. If you are a teenage boy, you'll no doubt love it. It parodies the copious amounts of Fast and Furious movies.

Since I put you all through that rather sickening parody trailer, let's finish this off by having a look behind the scenes of Spectre, a movie that everyone here at the blog are super excited for. Hopefully you won't get swallowed up by Sam Mendes' scarf.