Capote

Posted on August 24, 2011 by jaycluitt

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a great actor, this cannot be questioned. Whether leading a small film in the likes of Synecdoche New York, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and the Savages, outshining the rest of an ensemble cast in Magnolia, Boogie Nights, the Boat that Rocked and the Talented Mr. Ripley or chewing the scenery as the bad guy in a big screen blockbuster like Mission Impossible 3, he always sinks completely into his characters, be they good-natured yet uncouth storm chasers, an intimidating phone-sex supervisor/mattress salesman or an outspoken rock journalist. With Hoffman’s acting ability in little doubt, it’s a wonder this film was made, as other than showcasing his talent for inhabiting the persona of another individual, there is little to recommend for this drab, largely plot-less offering .

Hoffman plays acclaimed writer Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), visiting a small town to document the aftermath of a murder for a magazine. Fascinated with the case, and even more so by one of the convicted killers, he expands his piece to become the last book he ever finished, In Cold Blood. The only real narrative drive is that of the court proceedings and Truman writing his book, interspersed with various parties and conversations with his friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) as she herself achieves publication and film adaptation of her own seminal novel To Kill A Mockingbird, but what the film lacks in purpose it makes up for in performances.

Choose life 5/10

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Posted on July 28, 2011 by jaycluitt

With my pre-existing knowledge of Italian horror auteur Dario Argento – admittedly mostly garnered from watching Juno – I watched this apprehensively, ensuring the girlfriend – who scares easily – was out of the flat, and a sick bucket and towels were close to hand, lest the television begin leaking the copious flow of blood that would soon inevitably be filling up the screen. It is with a relieved sense of disappointment that I can confirm this is not a horror, more a suspense thriller, following a down on his luck American writer seeking inspiration in Italy, who witnesses an attempted murder whilst he is trapped between two sheets of glass. Discovering the attack was the handiwork of an active serial killer, he becomes obsessed with the case, up to the point where he is hunted by those who’d rather the killer remain unknown. Mostly following the standard crime whodunit formula, this effectively cranks up the suspense, but the goriness and brutality of the occasional murder jars with the largely sedate tone of the rest of the film. There are nice comedic touches – tracking down the man in the yellow jacket – and a collection of memorable oddball supporting characters including a stuttering pimp and a reclusive cat eating art collector, but this is little more than a sporadically bloodier version of A Touch of Frost.

Choose life 5/10

Spiderman 1 & 2

Posted on July 26, 2011 by jaycluitt

Never has a film been more squarely aimed at the nerds and outsiders of the world (OK, maybe Revenge of the Nerds), the guys with the smarts but not the brawn, good looks, athletic bodies and hot girlfriends. Fortunately, this description neatly encapsulates the majority of the superhero genre’s existing fanbase.

Tobey Maguire is Peter Parker, the afore-mentioned science nerd with a prolonged crush on Kirsten Dunst’s girl-next-door MJ, but lacking the confidence, wealth, strength and social standing required to do anything about it. After being bitten by a radioactive spider during a class field trip, he acquires some of the spider’s abilities, including wall crawling, mild precognition, shooting webs from his wrists, a vastly improved body and the ability to dangle from the ceiling into your mouth while you sleep. In real life, spider’s shoot the webs from an aperture closer to their posterior. This would have made for a much stranger film, I feel. Unfortunately, Parker’s transformation occurs around the same time as Parker’s lazy rich kid best friend Harry’s businessman father trials a new super serum on himself, with predictably disastrous results, transforming him into a suped-up madman, terrorising the city in the form of fan favourite villain the Green Goblin.

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Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Posted on July 3, 2011 by jaycluitt

A kind of working class Alfie, this tells the story of twenty-something factory worker Arthur Seaton, spending his weekends getting fall-down drunk, chasing women and sleeping with a stiff co-workers bored wife. Seaton is played with an animal intensity by Albert Finney in a breakout role, captivatingly bitter and indignant (check out the primal glare he gives his opponent in an early drinking contest), but some of the supporting cast are terrible, notable Shirley Anne Field as Arthur’s latest fancy Doreen. Predictably plotted and having aged terribly (One character dreams of “a new house, with a bathroom and everything!”) this is notable for Finney’s portrayal of a man confined by his own sense of self, but little else.

Choose life 5/10

Grease

Posted on June 25, 2011 by jaycluitt

Back when high school films were about the popular kids, before the likes of American Pie and the Breakfast Club introduced the world to the less mainstream aspects of the educational sub-groups, Grease tells the story of a unexpectedly elongated summer romance threatening the street cred of a popular guy amongst his friends, themselves involved in a fairly tame turf war with a rival gang. As with most musicals, there isn’t enough plot to fill a film if you removed the musical numbers, but most of the cast are perfect (specifically Stockard Channing (Abbey Bartlet!) as bad girl Rizzo and Didi Conn as the more timid Frenchie), and the songs are pretty catchy, most notably Grease Lightning, but the overall message is incredibly dated. Apparently, the best way to keep a guy is to change everything about yourself to exactly how he wants to be, your clothes, appearance, personality, everything. Oh, and the final drive-into-the-sky shot is possibly the cheesiest moment ever committed to film.

Choose life 5/10

Local Hero

Posted on June 23, 2011 by jaycluitt

I really wanted to like this more than I did, as Peter Riegert’s Mac is sent from a Texas oil company to smooth over a land deal in Scotland, only to become captivated by the polar opposite way of life and the gaggle of eccentric locals (an African priest, web-footed diver, drunk Russian fisherman and devious, opportunistic landlord/lawyer), but alas I found the whole affair to be rather slow. Burt Lancaster steals the show as Mac’s astronomy obsessed eccentric boss Happer, and a young Peter Capaldi is a million miles away from the Thick of It’s Malcolm Tucker, all nervous laughter and gangling run (surely inspiration for Toy Story’s Woody and his flailing lope), and they did well not depicting the locals as completely ridiculous and twee, but there’s not a lot to really recommend about the film. The business meeting at the start being held in whispers after the manager falls asleep did make me chuckle, and the fickleness of a bosses decision making process hit a chord with my own experiences, so there’s something at least.

Choose life 5/10

Babe

Posted on May 27, 2011 by jaycluitt

The film that made James Cromwell a perfect secret bad guy (see L.A. Confidential) and converting many meat eaters into vegetarians after seeing the consequences of the odd sausage roll, Babe tells the story of a pig, won by a farmer at a country fair, who learns to become a sheep-pig after being adopted by the farmers dogs. As a child, I remember greatly enjoying this film, especially the exploits of clumsy, prophetic duck Ferdinand who has aspirations of becoming a rooster to prevent being cooked in an orange sauce, but now I just find the whole thing tiresome. Especially the mice. What is the deal with the singing mice? I’m guessing they were probably used to introduce the various chapters in Rudyard Kipling’s book, but having them occasionally pop up and sing the chapter title, even though it’s written on the screen directly above them, just seems silly, and I’m sure they’re too small in comparison to the rest of the animals. If they were the inspiration behind the recent films of Alvin and the Chipmunks then woe betide anyone with a hand in bringing them onto the screen.

Choose life 5/10

Peking Opera Blues

Posted on May 27, 2011 by jaycluitt

Following the various pursuits of three women in 1920’s China, Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan) occasionally gets lost in its own labyrinthine plotting. The daughter of a general has joined a rebel organisation out to overthrown him by obtaining secret documents hidden within his safe. A female jewel thief on the run from the authorities tries desperately to reclaim her stolen loot from inside an opera house. The daughter of said opera house’s owner, an aspiring actress and acrobat, attempts to infiltrate the all male performance cast, much to her father’s distress, as having a female performer would ruin his business. These three plot strands are interwoven, with each girl playing a part in the other’s quest, but the repetitive forming of new plans, then immediately failing to follow them becomes jarring after a while, as does the lack of communication towards the audience – what is in the document everyone is so desperate to obtain? Why has the general’s daughter defected? Why are all the actors such screeching idiots?

At times the film borders on farce, with performers seemingly able to leap entire storeys, and audience members all moving in time during an unexpected gunfight, but the breakneck pacing, incomplete subtitles and looping plot structure let the film down.

Choose life 5/10

Sweeney Todd

Posted on May 2, 2011 by jaycluitt

Who could resist a film featuring Alan Rickman singing about marrying his adopted daughter! Me, it turns out. Many have criticised the picture for being too gory, although its hard to see how Tim Burton could have avoided the flood of viscera required to depict the story of Sweeney Todd, a barber who murders his clientele by slitting their throats in a specially designed barber’s chair (That I must say did appeal to the mechanical engineer in me), only for their innards to be baked into pies served in the shop below the barber’s. So, instead of toning down the gore, Burton embraces it, commencing the show following a trickle of blood, luminous red against an almost monochrome London, as it drips, seeps and oozes through cracks, down gutters and into the sewers. It is clear from this opening that those of a weaker disposition should stick to a more family-friendly film, such as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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Chronique d’Un Ete

Posted on April 7, 2011 by jaycluitt

I can’t say I’m surprised that this film is unavailable for rental from Lovefilm. It’s essentially a collection of interviews with various Parisians in 1960, being asked whether they are happy, and discussing topics including life, success, wealth and race. As an insight into life there and then it is interesting, but only in how it highlights the differences and similarities between the inhabitants of the same city. It all gets bit meta later on, when the directors, an anthropologist and a sociologist, discuss how the film has been limited up to that point, before showing the film to the people interviewed within it. Their reaction to the documentary is included as part of the film, as is the directors subsequent discussion of the reaction of the film, and the difficulties they have had making it. Many years before commentaries and behind the scene footage was popular, these two were self-analysing and critiquing the film they were making, whilst they were making it, and filming it as they went, to be included in the very film they were analysing. It’s the kind of moebius-strip film-making that could good on forever, but thankfully doesn’t.