Mosher'sUnimaginativelyEntitledBlog
–**– The Blog Without A Bloody Annoying Tagline –**–
I did a quick search for “midget gems” on Google earlier. Don’t ask – it was honestly school-related. No, seriously. It was. Anyway, I spotted the following advert on the sidebar. I was too scared to click on the link in case it took me to some dark, human-trafficking corner of eBay of which I wasn’t previously aware.
A four-film weekend for the first time in an age. It’s awkward having to swing the car out and back into the car park between films courtesy of the limited free parking at Fountain Park, but hey.
“Did someone call 9-1-holy ****!?”
Plot-in-a-nutshell: The best two cops in the city suffer a grisly fate during a crime and a couple of washouts from the precinct try to fill their shoes.
Will Ferrell is an unknown quantity. From genuinely hilarious films like Old School to complete cringeworthy crap like Anchorman, you never know what to expect from him. The Other Guys falls mainly in the former territory thanks in part to a decent script, some good one-liners and a pair of characters who aren’t actually annoying.
Ferrell, as usual, plays an off-kilter character. In this case a cop who’s opted for a desk job to keep his inner beasts at bay. His opposite number is smothered supercop Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), a gung-ho officer stuck at a desk because of an accidental shooting.
Of course, the two are chalk and cheese and they have some “bad cops” to compete with who want to prove themselves first. For a comedy, the plot running underneath has a couple of decent twists involving massive corporate fraud (courtesy of Steve Coogan‘s corrupt banker, David Ershon).
A couple of the jokes just run a little too long, and there’s the usual annoying issue of the oddball character not realising how unusual he is (endemic of most of Ferrell’s roles – and Adam Sandler, come to think of it). Despite this, it’s not too bad and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny in places. The opening action sequence is ludicrously over-the-top as well.
Oh, and do sit through the start of the credits for an interesting set of figures on how the fat cat bankers are really screwing everyone else. Don’t wait for the out-take at the very end, though. It’s not worth getting a numb bum for.
The Kid
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Small child grows up abused and battered by parents, gets involved in crime, eventually stands up for himself and becomes a best-selling author. All based on a true story.
Nick Moran is perhaps best known as an actor than as a director. However, if he can keep pumping out stuff like this then it’s a good job he’s spread his wings. Based on the autobiographies by Kevin Lewis, who wrote the screenplay.
The films begins towards the end with a battered Kevin being thrown out of a van. The story then backtracks to his life as a child.
Kevin grew up in a crappy council house in London. His father a drunken epileptic. His mother a serial child beater. The council uncaring until a school nurse spotted the bruises, cuts and burns and had him removed into care.
As years pass, Kevin is played by a succession of actors (William Finn Miller, Augustus Prew and finally Rupert Friend), all of whom do a superb job with a very difficult role. Hell, thoe whole cast is fantastic from Natascha McElhone as the hateful mother, Gloria, to Ioan Gruffudd as the teacher who tries his best to help the outcast Kevin through school.
Not only does the story focus on the family life, it also highlights how badly “the system” can work. Kevin’s return home being one example, and uncaring teachers who treat the odd kid as just another troublemaker.
Call me a bit over-analytical, but watching the film through newly qualified “teacher goggles” made a difference for me, especially the parts during Kevin’s teens where Mr Smith makes such an impact on his life. Trying to spot what went wrong, who did things they shouldn’t have – or should have done things they didn’t.
To use a trite phrase, it’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Things keep looking up for Kevin, and then he’s dropped right in it again. Time after time. You do wonder how anyone could cope.
It is not an easy film to watch. Abrasive, abusive, hard-hitting and brutal. The worst thing being that so much of it portrays violence to – and by – children. However, that’s not reason not to watch it. It’s a superb piece of film-making. The use of sound, music in particular, is very well done and if I have a criticism it’s that the punches thrown in the fight scenes don’t often look like they connect. Acting and drama-wise there is no fault to be found.
Definitely one to see if you have the stomach for it.
Devil
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Five people stuck in a lift and, apparently, one of them is Lucifer incarnate.
M. Night Shyamalan came up with the story for this one, apparently part one of a trilogy of tales. It’s a nice, short (under 90 mins) thriller/horror with some good pacing that doesn’t push the brain too much.
Five people get into a lift in an office building. The lift gets stuck… and then strange things start to happen. A religious security guard monitoring the situation details a childhood story where the devil appears in human form and punishes the guilty before killing them all and taking their souls to hell. Of course, he’s treated as a mad case while the police try to deal with the jammed lift.
The claustrophobic main set doesn’t keep the action in one place as apparently those who try to help will be struck down as well. The film has a 15 rating so death scenes aren’t that grisly, and you don’t actually see anyone killed or injured… just the effect afterwards. This doesn’t make it any less scary – Tobe Hooper did the same with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Devil is no classic, but it is a well put together thriller. The ending isn’t quite as unpredictable as it could have been, but it’s an enjoyable movie nonetheless and doesn’t waste much of your time if you don’t like it.
Cyrus
“Plan B – get more drunk”
Plot-in-a-nutshell: A man’s attempts to win over his new girlfriend are sabotaged by her scheming 21 year-old son.
This one was recommended by one of the staff at school and the trailer did make it look good. Don’t be fooled. I was bored senseless. Yes, it’s darkly comedic. Yes, it has a few good scenes. But overall I found it frustrating and empty.
John C. Reilly plays John, a man divorced for seven years who finally meets someone new that he likes (Marisa Tomei as Molly) at a party. She lives with her 21 year old son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) who’s somewhat attached to his mother and resents the intrusion of a new person into the fold.
John thinks he’s going mad until he figures out what’s happening, Cyrus and he eventually lock horns and Molly remains oblivious. In the meantime, the audience shuffle their feet. It certainly wasn’t just me – the half dozen people behind me proclaimed “that was ****” as they filed out at the end.
I guess I just didn’t get it as some of the reviews I’ve seen have been fairly positive. Just not my cup of tea I’m afraid.
Two news stories caught my ear today, both of which made me once again question the sanity of some of the idiots I’m forced to share this planet with.
First up was a revelation that Britain’s cocaine, heroin and so on is at an all time low purity level, often times as low as 20% actual drugs and 80% “filler”. This can be anything from talcum to rat poison to ground glass. You know something? I don’t care.
Much as I believe in a person’s right to do what they want as long as it’s behind closed doors and doesn’t affect anyone else, I’m still rather anti-drugs. Whatever your legal stance on it, class A drugs are addictive and potentially deadly at the best of times. I’ve heard of enough cases of children being left to fend for themselves while parents tend to their smack addiction to know that drugs are pretty much a filthy thing that should be expunged from society.
The fact that people are complaining that their additive brain-destroying chemical is being mixed with something that might make their tummy bleed really is madness.
Got a problem with it? Don’t bloody use drugs, then you ******* idiot. It’s pretty simple. But then, anyone daft enough to snort Columbian marching powder for a hobby probably isn’t intelligent enough to see that.
OK, rant number two: some numpty somewhere (I think the US, but I only caught the end of the story on the radio) has announced that on September 11th they’re going to broadcast themselves burning the Koran. Well, that’s just great. Why not just insult a billion Muslims just to protest the actions of a couple of dozen. Who are already dead.
The high command in Afghanistan have begged them not to do it as the repercussions against troops posted there could be horrendous.
Seriously, does nobody think about the consequences of their actions any more?
I’ve managed to watch 26 episodes of Battlestar Galactica over the last 2-3 days. I’ve also been staring at my online teaching profile until my eyeballs bled (OK, not quite but I did have to go to the opticians). I thought I deserved a break so I scooted across Edinburgh, despite the flipping road closure at Holyrood Park, and went to see:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
“Chicken isn’t vegan?”
Plot-in-a-nutshell: regular young guy in a band meets an amazing girl who takes his heart only he finds out he has to defeat her seven evil ex’s in mortal video-game-style combat to be with her. As you do.
I had a hell of a job picking a single piece of dialogue for the section above as this film is just so ridiculously quotable. It’s based on a series of comic books and it’s presented in a hugely comic-like style. Imagine something akin to Sin City crossed with the Mortal Kombat games.
Michael Cera plays his usual typecast character (check out Youth in Revolt and Superbad – actually, don’t check out Superbad as it sucks)Â as the eponymous Pilgrim. He starts the film dating a Chinese schoolgirl (Ellen Wong) until the dream girl Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) enters his life.
Very quickly he finds himself fighting her seven evil ex’s for the right to date her. Quite how he happens to be a martial arts badass is beyond me, but – hey – it’s a film with sound effects appearing as text in the background. I’ll let that slip. Also how one of the bands in the film can consist of a woman on vocals, a bassist and a drummer. What, no guitars?
Anyway.
The film proceeds at a pace fast enough that nobody should get bored. The quick dialogue and deadpan performances make it all the more amusing as well as the excellent use of effects to bolster the scenery. Lovely little touches to make it appear more like a graphic novel had my inner geek giggling manically.
I doubt it has the legs for a sequel and I overheard someone on the way out saying he found it a shame that they’d crammed all six books into one movie. As such I assume they’ve got no source material to work into a sequel although there was a hint of the possibility of one just before the end credits.
Frankly, that’s fine with me. It’s a great piece of escapism, is crammed full of superb dialogue and visual humour and doesn’t even for a moment try to take itself seriously. To try and stretch that out for another 90 minutes or so would, I’m sure, result in something nowhere near as enjoyable.
Not that that ever stops Hollywood from trying.
The day the UK government and legal system allows our police to treat obvious criminals like this with no repercussions (such as the law-breaking filth being able to sue the system or walk out scot free), is the day I’ll be happy to stay in this country.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yoUaH6wGLs