Ted
I’m not a Seth MacFarlane fan. Not Family Guy, not American Dad! and especially not The Cleveland Show. Maybe I just don’t get his humour. He seems like a nice enough guy from interviews I’ve seen and I certainly bear no ill will towards him, but I don’t find him particularly funny. That said, my curiosity got the better of me this afternoon. I went to the cinema to catch The Dark Knight Rises for a second time, but had a last-minute change of heart and plumped for Ted instead. The trailers hadn’t done a whole lot for me, but I like Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, and when I saw the names Giovanni Ribisi and Joel McHale pop up during the opening credits, I was convinced that I’d made a good decision. I’m still not sure what I felt about the film.
Here’s the thing; it is funny, in parts. It’s also painfully unoriginal in parts and even desperate in others. It follows a very similar theme to 90% of R-rated comedies released at the moment: boy loves girl, boy loves best friend, girl hates best friend. The only real difference is that the best friend is a talking teddy bear, and that the girl doesn’t really hate him, she’s just sick of the best friend making life harder (think Ed in Shaun of the Dead). It takes the cult hero cameos of I Love You, Man, the straight-faced-yet-inappropriate voiceover of Anchorman and the often-bizarre pop-culture references of MacFarlane’s other work and melds them together with what I’ve already highlighted as a derivative screenplay to result in an enjoyable but extremely predictable 100 minute or so.
The ending of the film is perhaps its worst moment. One of those where you say to yourself “Don’t do that, don’t do that, don’t do… Oh. They did it. That sucks.” Despite this, there are a lot of very funny moments. Giovanni Ribisi steals every scene he is in and when Marky Mark is allowed to be funny, he does a great job of it, just like he did in Date Night. Unfortunately, Wahlberg is also one of the problems. I don’t buy him, at 41, as a 35-year-old, and I certainly don’t buy him and 28-year-old Mila Kunis as a realistic couple at similar moments in their lives.
I don’t have a lot more to say about Ted, but I think if you’re a fan of MacFarlane’s work, you’ll probably love it. If not, it depends how much unoriginality you can tolerate.
***
P.S. Be prepared to be annoyed at everything who guffaws heartily in a “I get that joke because I know what drugs are” way at every weed joke in the movie. And there are a lot.
The AMAZING Spider-Man
Think back to 2007. Remember Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3? A movie that I will argue, until my grave, was worse than The Phantom Menace. A movie that had more villains than The Avengers had heroes. A movie that grossed $890m worldwide. It was very successful, commercially speaking, and was going to lead to another, equally imaginatively-titled, sequel. But then it didn’t. Raimi didn’t want to do it and went on to make Drag Me To Hell instead, and the wheels fell off. Fine, we had a good run. Two great superhero movies and one that we can try to forget, it’s not all bad. But Sony wasn’t done. Five years after Spider-Man 3, the franchise has been rebooted as The Amazing Spider-Man, with Andrew Garfield as the eponymous hero and Emma Stone as the not-as-well-known-as-MJ love interest Gwen Stacy, daughter of Captain George Stacy of the NYPD. Sony also took the opportunity to give headline writers a field day by handing the directorial reins to the aptly-named Marc Webb, of (500) Days of Summer fame.
The problem with Amazing – as I shall refer to it hereafter – is that as a reboot it has to also be an origin story. We’re starting again here. Forget Tobey Maguire. Forget Kirsten Dunst. Forget both Green Goblins, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Venom, J Jonah Jameson and the rest. Unfortunately the changes are few and far between. Gwen Stacy might as well be Mary-Jane Watson, Peter’s relationship with Aunt May and Uncle Ben is virtually identical, and the sequences of Peter struggling with and finally overcoming his new-found powers might have been copied and pasted from Raimi’s 2001 effort. What it is is much funnier. Andrew Garfield is what some might call “born to play Peter Parker”. I won’t stoop to this level as I don’t subscribe to the philosophical doctrine of fatalism, but I will say that he is as close to perfect in this role as I can imagine. Despite being closer in age to 30 than 17, he has a boyish charm that convinces even if his physicality doesn’t. Equally, Emma Stone is fantastic as Gwen, reminding us of her performances in Superbad and Easy A as the coquettish schoolgirl. Together they are a joy to watch. The supporting cast is just as accomplished. Martin Sheen does his best Jed Bartlett impression as Uncle Ben and Rhys Ifans, somewhat surprisingly, manages to underplay Dr. Curt Connors to a very pleasing degree, making him feel like a real character as opposed to the caricatures that Ifans normally vomits onto the screen
The plot is essentially Spider-Man. Peter is bullied, gets bitten by a spider on a (sort of) school trip, turns into a hero, is accidentally complicit in the death of his uncle and finally realises, without saying it, that with great power comes great responsibility. All of this comes just in time for a leading scientist to become a supervillain and threaten to destroy New York. His girlfriend gets mixed up in it, the loved one of a main character is killed and Peter becomes a true hero. It is the same movie, but it is done very well.
The main disappointment of Amazing is that Webb does not stamp his mark on the movie. (500) Days was full of interesting visual touches and directorial flair that added just a pinch of something extra to its narrative, but Amazing does away with this almost entirely. I get it though. (500) Days was that kind of movie. It allowed for a different style, whereas Amazing is a superhero movie. We know what we want from a superhero movie. And in Amazing, we get it. The only problem is that we got it eleven years ago as well, when Sam Raimi made the same movie.
****
The Other Guys and Knight and Day. Two average movies.
I’m trying to catch up with what’s gone on this year, and I decided to start with two of the more surprisingly positively refused movies. Adam McKay’s The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz juggernaut Knight and Day, directed by James Mangold.
There are a lot of similarities between the two films. They are both essentially buddy cop comedies with one extremely annoying element, they both end incredibly predictably and they are both fairly decent.
First, the annoying elements. Will Ferrell’s shouty doofus shtick is more than past its best. While it may have been funny back in the Anchorman and Elf days, its now worn beyond thin. However, Marky Mark more than makes up for it with a pitch-perfect straight man role, frustrated at the incompetence of his partner and angry at the demotions that it all leads to.
In Knight and Day, the smug, self-congratulating way in which Cruise and Diaz portray their relationship is painful. It’s like they’re saying “Hey, we don’t even need to pretend that these are characters. Let’s just let everyone see how good looking we are. That’ll do it.”
As I said, they aren’t bad movies, but they are both let down by some really crucial errors.
Peter Bradshaw gave The Other Guys five stars in The Guardian, and listed it among his top films of the year, and fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, it isn’t a five star movies. Even looking at movies with a degree of relativity and comparing it to movies of the same genre, if this is a five star movie, the likes of I Love You, Man and Superbad need a new set of ratings to be introduced to allow their superiority to be properly displayed.
These aren’t bad films but there are a lot of better things out there. Worth a watch, but don’t buy them.
The Town – Oscar Contender?
I’ve been looking around the web at various bits of Oscar-related news and came across WB’s “For Your Consideration” page for Ben Affleck’s The Town. Not convinced. I liked The Town. I’d even go so far as to say that I very much enjoyed it, but Oscar contender? Not for me.
It is one of the most straight-forward, down-the-line, simple films I have seen this year. Affleck’s direction and acting is good, but not world class. I could see Jeremy Renner or Rebecca Hall getting Supporting nominations, perhaps, but the big two are never going to happen, and the day Affleck wins an Oscar for his acting is the day Hell freezes over. And I say that as a fan.
To be fair, Renner and Hall were excellent in this movie – they did everything required of them well and convinced me of their somewhat two-dimensional characters – but there are probably five better nominations I could think of having only seen about 30 films this year – Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Nic Cage (Kick Ass), Robert Duvall (The Road), Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer (The Social Network) are all better bets for Supporting Actor than Jeremy Renner, and I would venture that Rachel Weisz (The Lovely Bones), Emily Mortimer and Michelle Williams (Shutter Island), Amy Ryan (Green Zone), Eva Mendes (Bad Lieutenant) and Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter) all did better jobs than Rebecca Hall in their respective roles. OK, maybe it’s a stretch to suggest that the likes of Kick Ass and Harry Potter will get Oscar noms in the big categories, but they deserve them more.
I genuinely liked The Town, but it is no more than a solid film with solid direction and solid performances. It is, in a word, solid. Solid. Although, given that nowadays we get 10 Best Picture nominations, it is possible that The Town will get one of these. I won’t support it, but it’s possible.
I Have To Do This
D589K535QHFT Apologies for the wasted post, this is a verification code to be listed on technorati.com. I will return with real posts soon!
The Social Network’s Oscar Campaign
As everyone knows, David Fincher’s The Social Network is the film of the year. Concise, gripping and brilliant, it lacks nothing and has everything. What Fincher doesn’t have, however, is an Academy Award. The man who made Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac has not been recognised by the Academy. A travesty, I’m sure you agree.
This week, there has been a lot of Oscar chat, due to the Gotham Independent Awards, at which Winter’s Bone won Best Picture. Now, Winter’s Bone is being talked about as a key contender for the Oscar, alongside The Social Network, Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right and The King’s Speech. These all tick boxes for Oscar nominations – token kids movie? Check. Indie movie? Check. Minorities movie? Check. British movie? Check. Best film of the year? Check.
If The Social Network doesn’t win either Best Picture or Best Director, the Academy needs to take a long, hard look at itself. I have gone on and on about The Social Network to whoever will listen, and was disheartened to be told last week that it was “boring”, before being told that Inception was a better film. Not just that it was the opinion of this person that it was a better film, but that it actually is a better film because it is a more exciting story and it has action. Hmm.
What has really surprised me is the story that Justin Timberlake is campaigning hard for a Supporting Actor nomination. He was certainly good in the film, but if The Social Network is to get a Supporting Actor nod, I would expect it to go to either Andrew Garfield, who is heavily tipped, or Armie Hammer, who was fantastic as the Winklevi. Timberlake did a good job, sure, but he was very much a background character. He certainly did something different from what we’ve seen before in the likes of Southland Tales and Black Snake Moan. Whatever the case, he’s a long way from N*Sync now.
The American – A Review
Anton Corbijn’s The America is a bizarre beast. Part clichéd melodrama, part existential-crisis thriller and part genre-throwback, the film never really settles despite creating a haunting, romantic atmosphere.
Corbijn, in conspiracy with cinematographer Martin Ruhe, shoots the village of Castel del Monte impeccably, giving every scene its own unique feel. While this may contribute to the overall lack of cohesion in the film, it gives the viewer something spectacular to look at, and while the film may lack in certain areas, there is always something beautiful to look at, whether it be one of the many establishing shots of the town, the paradiso of a riverside clearing or the scarlet-lit interior of prostitute Clara’s bedroom.
The plot centres on George Clooney’s eponymous Jack, an assassin sent to rural Italy to await his next assignment. Paranoid and mistrusting, he feels uneasy in this unknown environment and resorts to keeping company with a priest hiding a secret and a hooker who quickly falls in love with Jack.
Clara could be seen as the centre of the film. As one of the two characters that Jack connects with, she plays a key role in bringing him to resolution, giving him a purpose and a reason to leave what he does behind. Her honourable intentions make her a rare figure in The American; where most characters have dark motives for their actions, Clara wants to leave Castel del Monte and to start her life again, with Jack.
While the film is stunning to observe, it is sadly lacking in the storytelling department. To condense a 400-page novel into 105 minutes of film takes skill, and between Corbijn and screenwriter Rowan Joffe, it falls despairingly short. The relationship between Clara and Jack feels forced and rushed, with no time given to developing them from hooker and client to prospective life-partners, and Paolo Bonacelli’s Father Benedetto is given no closure, a character left suspended while the film progresses to its climax.
Perhaps these are intentional, highlighting the spontaneity of life and the lack of endings that many characters in our lives get, but it does not feel right to leave a character as important as Benedetto behind, or to allow Jack to change his life in such a short period of time.
For a film that purports to be so intelligent, The American is incredibly clichéd. We have seen basic symbolism – look out for the butterflies – so many times that it now feels hackneyed and stale; dull rather than deep. The ending is telegraphed as soon as the final act begins, leaving the viewer waiting for what they know is going to happen. While it doesn’t ruin the film, it leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Clooney once again gives a fantastic performance. Quiet and isolated, but powerfully dangerous, he comes across as the bastard child of an odd three-way between Jason Bourne, Harry Caul and Clooney’s own Ryan Bingham from Up In The Air. Clooney no longer gives outstanding performances, as each matches the great heights of the last, but this is among the best he has ever done. At 49, he is finally cementing his place as not just the biggest movie star on the planet, but one of its very best actors.
Although the film fails to deliver a truly convincing emotional climax, as a piece of visual art it is second to none. Clooney’s performance makes it stand out, but Joffe’s screenplay is lack in several key areas. The film has received some harsh criticism, but this can be put down to the disastrous mismarketing of this as an “action-thriller”; the action if minimal and the slow pace renders this film anything but thrilling. A rushed climax does damage The American, as the contemplative build-up deserves more, but ultimately it is a satisfactory watch. It won’t challenge intellectually, but it will entertain visually.
7/10
High Plains Drifter
I watched High Plains Drifter – Clint Eastwood’s second directorial feature – two nights ago, and I enjoyed it a fair amount. This isn’t a review, I just want to share my thoughts on it.
Now, my first thought when the credits began to roll was “Why was this rated 18?” Sure, there’s a rape scene, and a fair few people get killed, but it’s all pretty tame my today’s standards; there is barely a drop of blood, the only nudity we get is Clint Eastwood topless as he undresses for a bath, and the overall tone of the film is nowhere near as dark as a film like A Fistful of Dollars, which is rated 15 over here.
I would have no qualms about showing this movie to even a 15-year-old; if they can walk into HMV and pick up a copy of Hot Fuzz, which has numerable uses of “cunt” and “fuck”, as well as lot more explicit violence and gore, I don’t see why they are not allowed to buy this. It is also a valuable tool in film education, as it is yet another reason to fall in love with Clint Eastwood, possibly the greatest person ever to have lived.
To quickly summarise the plot, Clint plays, unsurprisingly, a high plains drifter, who drifts into a small town called Lago, which is steeling itself for the return of three notorious outlaw types, who are due to be released from prison in the next couple of days. Clint’s first action is to kill Lago’s three self-styled protectors, obviously, because he is awesome. It is just after this that he commits what is possibly the tamest rape I have seen on screen. Despite its tameness, it was a bit creepy given that Mordecai, the town midget, is watching them.
I really don’t understand how the certification of this film works at all, and the BBFC website has no information, so I guess I stay stuck in this state of confusion and bewilderment.
The other thing I wanted to talk about is a spoiler, so don’t read on after this if you don’t want High Plains Drifter spoiled for you. To be fair, if you don’t figure it out in the first 20 minutes, if not the first five, there is something wrong with you.
***********************************SPOILERS*************************
So Clint is a ghost, or something. He is Marshall Jim Duncan, once of Lago. He was killed by the three dickheads that are coming back to town and was buried in an unmarked grave. Early in the film, one of the female characters says something along the lines of “If you’re buried in an unmarked grave, you’re destined to wander the earth forever, looking for something.” Or something like that. This is an obvious clue, along with Clint’s flashbacks to being savagely attacked in the middle of the town, with no-one helping him.
I get why maybe they thought this was a good idea, but it just seems a little weird to me. To be fair, if he had just been a nice guy who came in and helped, I would probably be writing something like “I don’t get why Clint would help out this little town for no reason, blah blah blah…”, so maybe this plot element is warranted.
However, due to my sanity, I don’t believe in ghosts, and generally when one watches a movie about ghosts, the whole notion is very stylised or fantastical in a way that makes it acceptable to show me ghosts. When I watch a western, it’s all about real badasses doing real badass things, and the idea that ghosts could be a part of this bothered me quite deeply. I did enjoy the film, but a lot of the time I was thinking “Well, why would a ghost do that?” Why didn’t he just go and murder the criminals in their cells? Why did he make Mordecai the sheriff and the mayor? Why did he paint the town red?…That was really weird. It has to be said that sometimes I read films slightly naively, but this time, the red thing really went over my head. I understand that he ripped off the townspeople because they let him die, but certain elements seemed very odd.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on High Plains Drifter – a very good film, but not my favourite Clint movie or my favourite western. Very accomplished, and very entertaining, but the supernatural stuff did irritate me slightly. It’s a solid movie, and if you like westerns, you’ll like this. If you don’t like westerns, a) you probably won’t like this and b) what is wrong with you?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – A Review
I feel as if I should get this out of the way: before Friday I was not much of a Potter fan. I had read books 1-6 and seen films 1-3, as well as half of the last movie a few weeks ago. I had some fondness for the series as it was a part of my childhood, but ultimately, I didn’t care any more. I went along on Friday morning because I thought I should probably see this. And I’m glad I did.
What is most apparent about this latest installment is that it is not a movie for kids. Looking back on the old films, they very much are. As good as they are, they are for children. The Death Hallows is dark, it’s violent and it’s very grown up. And so are the actors – having not really seen them since they were about 14, in The Prisoner of Azkaban, it was a shock to suddenly realise that these are real people, and more importantly, they are very good actors. Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are more than accomplished in roles that they have clearly grown comfortable with. Their performances seem effortless and cool. Whereas before, they seemed more concerned with remembering their lines than performing them convincingly, now they simply are Hermione, Harry and Ron.
The opening scenes of The Deathly Hallows tell us immediately that we aren’t in for an easy ride. We are privy to a Death Eaters meeting, complete with torture, murder and wand-breaking. The unfortunate recipient of which is Jason Isaacs’ (Hello!) Lucius Malfoy, father of the douchey Draco.
After this, we lose two of the most memorable characters from the series (who, I won’t reveal, but one is particularly heartbreaking), and the realisation that this is a dangerous, deadly world in which the characters exist. There are clear parallels to the Nazis’ persecution of impure races and people; a real-life scenario that the makers have done well to mirror in this most fantastical of universes, as it adds vital emotional resonance and pathos to the story we are told.
As opposed to previous Potter stories, this is told far from the comfort of Hogwarts, as we follow our heroic triumvirate as they seek to destroy the horcruxes that hold the power to defeating, once and for all, Lord Voldemort, while avoiding the attention of bounty hunters, snakes disguised as friends, and general bad luck. The chemistry between the three leads is what keeps the story going; lesser performances from any of them would really damage the movie, as they really are the sole focus of the events we see.
It is important to note that this film only tells half a story, and the divide is chosen at an opportune moment – one that leaves the viewer wanting to see the rest of the story, while feeling satisfied with the story they have already been told.
Some critics have offered the opinion that there isn’t enough action on show, and that the majority of the film is boring. However, I would argue that the lack of action adds to the already-palpable tension, and only serves to make the impeccable moments of action all the more relieving and exciting.
The Deathly Hallows is, simply put, an excellent film. As someone who hasn’t followed the story for some five years, I picked up the story fairly comfortably and enjoyed what I was given. We have action, humour, romance, suspense, and the all important magic, and each element of the story is told as well as the next. If you haven’t watched a Potter film in years because they were too childish, this is the film you need to see. Compelling, dark and it ends on a cliffhanger. What more could you want?
9/10
