August: Osage County

Over the years, I have always wanted to see a classic film when it first arrived at cinemas, be it Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver or Casablanca. With the release of August: Osage County, I feel as though I have had that opportunity. With a fantastic cast, extremely well written script and superb direction, I find it hard to fault this film.

It follows a family from Oklahoma who have come together for the first time in years because their father Beverly (Sam Shepard) has gone missing. Their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep), is an abrasive woman who is addicted to prescription medication. The three daughters, Barbara, Ivy and Karen (Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis, respectively), each with their own problems, come together to try and comfort their mother.

For a film with a lot going on in terms of story and sub-plots, everything is presented quite clearly and this comes down to Tracy Letts' brilliant script (he also wrote the award-winning play on which the film is based). It's never hard to keep track of everyone's story and every plot element is resolved without being dismissed too quickly.

John Wells direction is also very evocative. He brings out stellar performances from his entire cast and shoots each scene in an extremely planned way. One of the major scenes in the film revolves around a family dinner and it is shot in such a way that the audience is gripped for the entire duration.

The two standout performances come from both Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Streep is amazingly witty, yet at the same time sharp-tounged, as the matriarch of the family. It is definitely a standout role for her in her recent career (even though her recent career has been full of those). Julia Roberts has come a long way from the roles that she played early on (both Runaway Bride and Pretty Woman were terrible in my book). She is excellent as a long suffering daughter who just wants to be done with her family.

Verdict: A fantastic family drama that is surprisingly funny. Stellar performances from both Streep and Roberts.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

I'm going to be upfront, I was never a fan of the first Anchorman film. There were some funny set pieces, like the big fight, but overall I didn't find it consistent. But with The Legend Continues, I feel as though they've made a great comedy from that original concept.

Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) has just lost a promotion as lead anchor on the station on which he works to his wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). He is brought back from the brink of suicide by an offer to be one of the anchors on the world's first 24-hour news channel. First he must bring his award-winning news team back together; Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell). Once they get to New York, the team are confronted by Jack Lime (James Marsden), whom they engage in a battle for ratings with.

Overall, this film is much more consistently funny than the first and although it may not be as quotable, it still will keep you laughing. Much like the first film, my favourite jokes come from Steve Carrell's portrayal of loveable weatherman Brick. James Marsden also gives a hilarious performance as arrogant anchor Jack Lime. There is also a huge range of cameos in this film, with everyone from comedy regulars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to serious actors like Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. Even Drake and Kanye make hilarious cameos.

Most of the best jokes in the film are directed at the 1980s themselves. Hilarious jabs at fashion and hairstyles (keep an eye out for those perms) and historical events, such as the trial of OJ Simpson. These jokes fly under the radar and happen very quickly, but if you can catch them, they are very rewarding.

Verdict: A hilarious film that did a lot better than the first with a fantastic concept.

Philomena

For a very straightforward film, Philomena is an exceptionally hard film to write about. It covers a period of history that I found confronting and hard to forgive.


Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) has just lost his job as a government adviser and is desperately looking for something to pass the days. He comes across Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), an elderly Irish woman who has just revealed to her daughter that she gave birth to a son fifty years earlier and has been trying to track him down since. Philomena gave birth in an Irish convent, where she worked as an indentured servant, before be forced to give her son up for adoption. Martin decides to help her while writing a human interest story on her to get out of his rut.

For me, I found this story very confronting. I didn't know that young women were abandoned by their families for the shame of having a child out of wedlock. The Catholic Church's stance that what these young women had done is a sin, is a ridiculous concept and results in having people like Philomena Lee keep a secret like this for the majority of their lives.

So its no surprise that an actress like Judi Dench is able to pull off such an emotionally difficult character like Philomena. She is able to put a lot of emphasis on the extremely emotional scenes, as well as be fantastically funny when humour is needed. She was also able to pull off an Irish accent with extreme ease and is entirely convincing.

For someone who has built an entire career off comedy, Steve Coogan slipped into this role with relative ease. At first, I was expecting him to make joke after joke, but without his comedy partner Rob Brydon by his side, that would seem like a betrayal. But his performance as Martin Sixsmith was spot-on and I really felt the anger that he was feeling throughout the film.

Verdict: A extremely well-made film about a time in history that is heartbreaking. Excellent performances from both Dench and Coogan.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

If you ask me, I think that Ben Stiller's work as a director eclipses his work as an actor. That's not to say that he's not a good actor, but the films that really stand out for me are the ones that he's directed. And with his first film since 2008's Tropic Thunder, Stiller has made a heartwarming film about living in the moment.

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is a lowly worker for Life magazine, with designs on dating a fellow colleague, Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig). Walter is prone to having daydreams that leave him zoned out in the real world, much to the discomfort of those around him. One day Walter arrives at work to find that they are discontinuing the printed version of the magazine and are downsizing their staff numbers. The man in charge of this is the abrasive Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), who wants Walter to track down a missing negative of a photo taken by mysterious photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn).

Ben Stiller is an extremely versatile actor. While he is known for his comedic roles, some of them even bordering on silly (White Goodman in Dodgeball), he isn't afraid to take on more serious roles. Though this film isn't a straight drama, it does have comedic elements to it. But overall, the ultimate message of the film is about living in the moment and discovering who you really are.

Likewise, Kristen Wiig has made a remarkable jump from comedy to the dramatic. Wiig is known for her hilarious roles on Saturday Night Live and Bridesmaids (which she also wrote). But in Walter Mitty she transforms into an actress who can give depth and background to her character.

Adam Scott is hilariously evil in a departure from the usually hilariously nice characters he plays on TV (Party Down, Parks and Recreation). Cameos from both Sean Penn and Patton Oswalt are rewarding.

Verdict: Whilst Walter Mitty is a pleasing ride that does give us some things to reflect on in our own lives, it doesn't really push any boundaries in terms of telling a story.

Delivery Man

Sometimes a movie comes along that is marketed as a movie of one genre, but really works better in another genre. A great example of this is Kevin James' Here Comes the Boom, it looks like a comedy, but it works better as a light hearted drama. The same could be said of Vince Vaughn's latest film, Delivery Man.

Perennial slacker Dave Wozniak (Vince Vaughn) works as a truck driver for his family's butcher business. He owes $80 000 to some thugs and his girlfriend (Cobie Smulders) is pregnant. Just when life seems like it could get any worse, he finds out that he is the biological father of 533 children from a mix up at a sperm clinic that he donated to 23 years earlier. 142 of the children have filed a class action suit to discover the identity of 'Starbuck', the alias he used. Through his lawyer, Brett (Chris Pratt), David gets the profiles of these children and follows them around, committing random acts of kindness.

Unlike previous Vince Vaughn movies, Delivery Man doesn't just rely on comedic situations. At it's core, there are some really touching themes to do with family and parenting and these themes are extremely uplifting.

Vince Vaughn worked really well as David Wozniak. His charm that he brings to other roles, works exceptionally well here. Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) is hilarious as David's best friend and lawyer.

What confuses me about this film however, is that it is a remake of a 2011 Canadian film Starbuck, which was directed and written by the same director as this film, Ken Scott. To me this seems a little redundant, but as I have seen the original, I can't really pass judgement.

Verdict: Overall a funny and heartwarming film about parenthood. A must see for anyone with 533 children.

Filth

The works of Irvine Welsh have always tackled addiction in the most confronting ways. Filth is no different. It has all the hallmarks of an Irvine Welsh story; the snappy dialogue, the scathing commentary on Scottish life and the drugs. Oh, those drugs.

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in the Edinburgh with high aspirations. After the murder of a Japanese student, he is offered the position of Detective Inspector if he solves the crime. Meanwhile, he sabotages the efforts of his colleagues, who are also after the position, and makes the life of his Masonic brother, Bladesey (Eddie Marsan), hell.

Underneath all the madness, Filth is a pretty funny movie. Bruce is a horrible person, but he is also charming as hell and it's easily understandable how he gets away with things that he does. This is made more apparent by McAvoy's excellent portrayal of the character. McAvoy possesses the right amount of skill to play such a character. His chemistry with the rest of the cast, in particular Marsan, is electric. Never before has there been a more reprehensible corrupt police officer portrayed on film (Harvey Keitel is still playing catch up in my book). Much like how Daniel Craig played a likeable villain before he scored the role of James Bond, I see the same future for McAvoy.

The rest of the cast did a superb job, although they were all relegated to minor characters next to the powerhouse that is Bruce Robertson. Jamie Bell (of Billy Elliott fame) did a superb job of playing rookie cop Ray Lennox, Imogen Poots is fantastic as rival detective Amanda Drummond and stalwart of British cinema, Jim Broadbent is hilarious as Dr. Rossi, who I think was supposed to be Australian, but I'm not sure.

Verdict: All in all an entertaining journey into the messed up mind of a coke addicted cop who needs some serious help. Also has a great cameo with David Soul, who was the original Hutch in the Starsky and Hutch TV series.

The Counselor

The works of Cormac McCarthy have always served as interesting fodder for film adaptations. Indeed both No Country for Old Men and The Road translated his vision perfectly to the screen. However, The Counselor is an entirely original script from him and when you couple that with an immensely visual director, such as Ridley Scott, you get a beautiful film that also has extreme depth and meaning just underneath the surface.

The film is set in the southern United States and it follows The Counselor (Michael Fassbender) as he descends into the drug fuelled world of the Mexican cartels. After a shipment that he had a stake in is stolen, he ends up going on the run, as the cartel behind the other half of the investment believes he is responsible.

The film has many themes and they all seem to be complementary of one another. The largest ones are those of greed and actions and consequences. The Counselor is driven to do many of the things that he wants, primarily by greed. What he wants most is to please his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz) and we can only assume that she is the reason he has driven himself toward this path. That greed also goes hand in hand with the consequences that are a direct result of the actions that he has taken.

All this depth and meaning stems from a superb script from McCarthy. Unlike the other adaptations that I mentioned earlier, whose screenplays had been written by other writers, The Counselor has the unique voice of McCarthy, who has written some wonderfully cryptic dialogue scenes that also appear in his literature.

This film is also spectacular to look at as well and that is largely due to Ridley Scott's amazing vision as a director. The landscapes in the film are amazing, showcasing Mexico and Texas on an intimate scale that I really appreciated.

Finally, the cast of this film is not be forgotten. I know looking at the poster, all you see are the big names and just think it's going to be an empty film. But all the actors are fantastic. I especially want to give praise to Cameron Diaz, as I have not seen her reach a level such as this since Being John Malkovich in 1999. There is also a scene that has cameos from Dean Norris (Hank in Breaking Bad) and John Leguizamo (Luigi in Super Mario Bros., and a ton of other stuff) that I found humourous for some reason.

Verdict: An intense and compelling crime drama that is sure to make you scared of cheetahs and girls on Ferraris.