Category: Review

A tale of two comedies

You wouldn’t think two films in the same genre could be so different. Such was the case with Four Lions and Hot Tub Time Machine. The only things they have in common – both are comedies and both are great entertainment.

Four Lions

“We have a Wookie down”

Plot-in-a-nutshell – A gang of incredibly inept extreme Muslim fundamentalists attempt to organise a suicide bombing. With hilarious results. No, really.

A lot of people in the UK with know the name Chris Morris from the infamous Brass Eye TV show. It really trod the edge of decency and as a result managed to hit a vein of humour that a lot of shows otherwise wouldn’t dare mine. Four Lions taps this same vein.

I don’t know many writers who could get away with making so much fun of an entire religion, especially one which tends to get a little irate in return as Islam. Morris does it extremely well, I think partly by showing two sides of the Muslim fence – but neither in a good light. There are even some good, dramatic clashes between the two.

What’s most important, though, is the humour. Lashings of it. So many quotes you won’t know where to begin if you’re a person who makes posters for student’s bedrooms. I have not heard a cinema laugh in unison for a long time. I also haven’t heard a person shouting out in the cinema for ages, but that was just one prick and he was given a tongue-lashing by several people. Tosser.

The cast are excellent, the acting superb and the direction spot on. Unlike some of Morris’s earlier work, it never quite hits being over the top. Silly, yes. Straining credibility, possibly. But never quite pushing it to the point where it becomes utterly impossible to believe.

If you are a person who can take sensitive subjects like religion with a pinch of salt and/or a dose of humour then you simply can’t afford to miss this excellent piece of film.

Hot Tub Time Machine

“Do I really gotta be the asshole who says we got in this thing and went back in time?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Four guys hop in a hot tub, break the controls and go back to the 1980s. With hilarious consequences. No, really.

OK, it has a really awful title. It also has a pretty poor premise, but at least it doesn’t take this seriously. As the guys realise how goofy the whole idea of a time-travelling hot tub is there is a notable aside to the camera that basically says “look, we know, ok?”

I’d briefly describe this film as Back To The Future (time travel, possibility of wiping out a cast member and Crispin Glover) meets Road Trip (lewd humour and tons of swearing) with a side of Road Hogs (four guys bonding) and perhaps the slightest dash of Groundhog Day (romantic interlude).

Given the low-brow nature of the film, it’s incredibly well scripted and acted. There’s just the right amount of character development to allow a plot without it overshadowing the gutter humour. Hot Tub is fully aware of how silly it is, but like its characters finding themselves in an 80s they recall fondly, it simply doesn’t care.

One of the things I’m most grateful for is the fact that the trailer didn’t give away the best jokes. That was my one failing with the otherwise excellent (and similar, I suppose) The Hangover. This film has so many great belly laughs, that a trailer simply couldn’t contain them all anyway. Like Four Lions above, the audience were lapping it up.

If you’re offended by profanity and sexually-related humour, your best avoiding this. Likewise if fluorescent legwarmers really make you cringe. Otherwise, this should be very high on your “to see” list.

Oh, and the soundtrack is kick-ass.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

I Am… (for the second time)

OK, this was worth waiting the extra few days to catch…

Iron Man 2

“It’s good to be back!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell – bad men try to make new Iron Man outfits, real Iron Man has real-life crises and has to stop them. Come on, it’s a superhero film. You want a plot?!

It’s very, very rare for a sequel to outdo or even equal the original. Iron Man 2 has succeeded. Whether it’s better than the first is going to be a matter of opinion but it’s certainly every bit as good.

What I liked most about the first film was the wonderful banter, mainly in dialogue involving Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). It’s fast, sharp and witty. I seriously wonder if they’ve hired a scriptwriter from The West Wing to add the extra zing. In all honesty, this dialogue gave me more laughs than I get from many so-called comedy films.

OK, let’s be honest. It’s not a complicated plot. A bad guy (Mickey Rourke) makes a cool exoskeleton with electric whips. Another nasty rich man wants to rip off Stark’s suits so he can make money in the weapons market. Things get out of hand, and a huge special-effects and explosion-laden fight ensues.

In with all of this, romance maybe seems to blossom between Stark and “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Samuel L Jackson reappears as Agent Nick Fury, and the Avengers project starts to gain some momentum. There is a very interesting post-credits sequence that’s apparently worth staying back for. I didn’t. So I read about it here.

This is a simple film with a good core set of actors. The effects are superb, the action sequences big and silly, the dialogue – as mentioned – witty. As far as it goes, and it doesn’t try to pretend it’s anything it’s not, this is a great piece of entertainment.

Which – after all – is what you’re after when you watch a film.

That and Scarlett Johansson in a sexy black outfit. Tick that box as well. Phwoar.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

British Cinema – Streets Ahead

Last night I caught two films at the Cineworld, both British yet both on opposite ends of the financial scale. Both, however, were excellent and proved beyond a doubt that you don’t need a bazillion dollars and household name megastars to produce entertaining, thoughtful cinema.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Two men kidnap a girl for ransom… and then things start to get interesting.

One thing that didn’t strike me until the film reached the end credits was that the cast of this film is exactly three. This includes background characters and extras – there are none. Precisely three human beings appear on the screen throughout the entire feature.

We have Vic (Eddie Marsan), Danny (Martin Compston) and Alice (the beautiful Gemma Arterton). Vic is the mastermind, Danny the cohort and Alice the victim. The actual kidnapping is right at the start of the film and is simply the setup for the twists and turns that are to follow. It also takes almost ten minutes before we get the first spoken dialogue (barring some screaming).

Disappearance has more twists than a twisty turny thing that’s been tangled up in knots. The character relationships are exemplary, well handled and superbly acted. Full credit has to be given to the three thesps involved. They each play a very different personality and they do it well.

I think that’s what I enjoyed most about the film. It doesn’t hinge on the kidnap, it all revolves around the people caught up in it. Their relationship to each other, their reactions, how they handle the situation and little things that go wrong. The first film that springs to mind when I think of a plot like this is Danny Boyle‘s superb Shallow Grave. Disappearance is up there with that in terms of great storytelling.

The budget for this film must be minimal, and it proves beyond a doubt that no matter how much cash you throw at a film it’s lost without a great story. Yes, Clash of the Titans (2010) I am looking at you. And Avatar, frankly. The likes of James Cameron‘s opus succeed only because of the money involved. Disappearance succeeds despite the lack of it. It’s lowly budget is in no way reflected in what you see on screen.

A definite must-see.

Centurion

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Rome decided to go all out against the Picts, doesn’t come off too well and leaves seven soldiers stuck deep behind enemy lines.

Second time lucky, I managed to catch this one before it vanished from the multiplex. I’m very glad I did as well. Similarly to Disappearance above, this is a low-budget (compared to Hollywood) effort, filmed in the UK and using British talent. It’s the opposite end of the pay scale, though, with a very large cast, some wonderful scenery and gory effects.

Neil Marshall’s first major release was Dog Soldiers which I loved. The horror story background was played off against the great incidental dialogue. Centurion follows this pattern as we see the Roman soldiers bantering with each other.

Centurion isn’t a straightforward epic, however. The huge cast is quickly whittled down to a smaller core with an actual plot. Imagine BAT*21 meets Gladiator meets Braveheart. Ish.

The way the story is told is very clever – the first line of dialogue marrying up perfectly with the last. Essentially we follow one character – Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) – as he finds himself attached to a legion sent north to defeat the Picts who have so far withstood the Roman invasion. As history will tell you, they continued to do so and the legion’s fate is not a pretty one.

Seven men survive out of three thousand. They set off to rescue their general, and then to find their way back to safety. All the way they are hounded by a near-mystically gifted tracker (Etain, played by the disturbingly sexy Olga Kurylenko) and a small group of Picts intent on ensuring they don’t make it.

The film seems to have been shot almost entirely outdoors which must have been uncomfortable for all involved as it looks flipping freezing. I’m no historian, but the settings and so forth seem pretty authentic although the language has been brought up to modern standard (including the swearing). A nice touch to have the Picts speak what I assume is some early version of Gaelic which is subtitled. Again, apologies if my lack of historical knowledge proves that statement to be utter crap.

It’s certainly not a heart-warming film. As we’d expect from Marshall, it’s brutal and unforgiving. Beatings, bashings, decapitations, stab wounds, hacks, slashes… all present and accounted for.

I await the forthcoming Robin Hood film which is probably the most similar release so far this year. I’d like to compare the budgets and see which one I enjoy the most. Judging by the trailers, I think it’s going to be Centurion. And, hey, wasn’t the best thing about Costner’s version Alan Rickman – who just happens to be British?

Yes, this week I am mostly very proud of our home-grown films.

Oh, and for reading this far… a quick quiz. What is the connection between both of these films and James Bond? No prizes other than kudos!

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Agora – the accidental film

Why accidental? Well, I picked up two tickets this afternoon. One for Centurion, and one for a film later on. I got the tickets mixed up and walked into the second theatre first. Whoever checked my ticket on the way in obviously just saw the screen number and missed the film name and time! In fairness, so did I…

Anyway, by the time the title of the film came up I realised I wasn’t in to see Centurion. In fairness, they’re both swords and sandals films so I have a valid excuse. And by that point, the “correct” film would have started so I decided to sit Agora out.

I am very, very glad I did.

Agora

“Since when were there so many Christians?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell – a few decades in the life of Alexandria, as the pagan gods die off and the Christian one takes over.

I’m no Egypto-Roman scholar, but Agora seems more like a Discovery Channel docu-drama than a regular movie. The detail, acting quality, sets, scenery, plot… all are simply superb.

Rachel Weisz plays Hypatia, a philosopher and scholar – and historically the “first woman of mathematics”. At the start of the film, the Roman gods are still playing a major part in the lives of the inhabitants of Alexandria. Christianity, now no longer outlawed, is on the ascendancy. Also in the mix is a sizeable Jewish population.

As you may have guessed, this is no Clash of the Titans. The effects are predominantly geared towards some wondrous views of the city from space. Hypatia’s passion is for the mysteries of circles and planetary objects.

This is a simple story, at its heart, and takes place at a reasonable pace. There are several layers which intermingle nicely – the slow working out of the planetary objects and discussion of philosophy; the uprising and expansion of the Christian faith and the brutal treatment of both the pagans and the Jews; the treatment of slaves.

One things for sure and that’s that it doesn’t put the Christians in a good light. Again, how close this is to “real” history, I don’t know. In fairness, records from that far back are hazy to say the least. From what I’ve read up on since seeing the film, there’s a little artistic license but the core of the story is based on as much fact as we have available.

And that’s one of the best things about this movie. For me, at least, it awoke a desire to dig through the online encyclopaedias and learn a little more about what I’d just seen.

Great entertainment and education without noticing. If it wasn’t for the violence, very mild nudity and… erm… violence then this would be a fantastic film for schoolkids studying this period in history. Mind, it’s only a 15 so perhaps it could be used.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Keeping up with… The Joneses

Just the one film this weekend. Sorry for such a poor performance.

The Joneses

Plot-in-a-nutshell: A new family on the block has all the new toys – and everyone else starts to want them.

SHOCK ALERT HORROR. This is a film with a pretty original plot. Possibly the first Hollywood one I’ve seen in a year or more. It’s not based on a book or comic. It’s not a sequel. There’s no “original version” or foreign film it’s based on. For this reason alone you should go and see it.

The other reasons are the cast, script and story. This is a neat little number that clocks in at 93 minutes so doesn’t drag like other films do. The Joneses move into a nice little suburban neighbourhood pretty much overnight. They have a ton of great gadgets, toys, food and the like. Product placement in this film is very much deliberate.

Thing is, the family have a secret – which is revealed in the trailer so I don’t mind giving it away here. They’re a fake family, sent there by an advertising company to “push” products subtly on the locals. However, there are consequences.

David Duchovny is great as the novice “dad”, his boss/wife played by an also-believable Demi Moore. They play well of each other as the story and their relationship change. The two kids (Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth) are also welcome additions to the cast and their characters add an extra couple of plot threads to the mix.

The closest film I can think of to this one is the excellent Arlington Road, another movie where everything hinged around people not knowing exactly who their neighbours are. OK, well, maybe The ‘burbs but that was a bit crap. The Joneses isn’t exactly up there with one of Tim Robbins‘ finest hours but it’s decent enough.

Frankly, it’s just good to see something fresh on the cinema screen that doesn’t rely on special effects or that rides on the coat-tails of some other media. An entertaining bit of cinema aimed at making us think a bit about the whole commercial culture.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]