American Hustle

Ensemble comedy at its (almost) best. Lies, scams, cons and double dealing in 1970's New Jersey.

(Nerd observation: the opening company logos are shot as if they were produced in the 70's).

Jennifer Lawrence steals every scene she's in and I think Director David O. Russell allowed her more leeway to really go over the top whereas he seems to have held back Christian Bale whose character might have benefitted from such looser reins.

The film therefore is a study in how far actors are allowed to take their characters: some get the chance while others don't. Everyone hits the mark for the most part, but Bale's Irving Rosenfeld seems strangely left behind. He's at first the driving force behind the story but then the other characters seem allowed to take over, to the point where Irving gets kinda left behind.

We know it's his story, so when does he really come into his own? He does sort of eventually but it's too little too late.

The film, despite its vintage burlesque and irreverent attitude never really becomes subversive - it plays the story straight, clear and funny and that's all fine and good. But after a good two hours one wonders if a little anarchy might have been a welcome spice to add.

My petty criticisms aside, this is a self-assured piece of filmmaking that seems to simply enjoy the art of filmmaking with some of the coolest acting talent that the US can currently muster.

In the end it's a feel good story where the good guys win and the bad guys get busted. It might have been a Scorsese film and a brilliant one at that, with lots of guilt and loss and pain, but 'American Hustle' is what it is, a happy piece of entertaining retro fluff.

***1/2 out of *****

Miss Bala

Well I wouldn't want to live in Mexico, based on the this film. Seen through the eyes of Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), crime and corruption, death and violence seem to be endemic to Mexico with the authorities often powerless to stop the carnage and the drug industry.

What I found most interesting about 'Miss Bala' was that Laura gets caught up, against her will, in this vicious world yet when she does have the chance, more than once, to flee - she doesn't. Her motivations become hazy. Why does she choose to stay with such violent men? These are killers and she's only still alive because she's pretty and they can use her to get to men in positions of power.

The unfortunate effect of this situation is that Laura becomes a character we, the audience,  gradually come to like less and less.

It's almost inconceivable that a nation exists where this level of out-of-control-violence actually exists, but here it is. So this is just an entertainment? Does it serve a need in Mexico, calling upon its citizens to do something about it?

For me, it's rather terrifying that this sort of world exists, but maybe to Mexicans it's a call to action...

*** out of *****

The Invisible Woman

A nearly great exploration of Charles Dickens and his controversial relationship with a young wanna be actress. Lovely scenery, intelligent script and all-round brilliant performances yet this still doesn't seem to really come together.

It felt like the point of the film was forever in becoming clear. Scene after scene and the purpose of the film remained vague, and it wasn't until at least 30 to 40 minutes in that we finally got an idea of what it was about. Way too long.

The result was a rather plodding film that tried really really hard to be something special but just didn't have it within itself to cross that greatness line. Fiennes is the heart and sole of this film despite Felicity Jones' attempts to make it her own. She just gets way to much empty screen time when Fiennes's Dickens is what is truly drives the story and its (hoped for) promise.

Jones and her character just don't have the power to make this film fly and that's such a shame because this film either lives of dies based on her. Without that driving force the film languishes along at a three knot pace driving the audience to distraction. Come on, give us something to get us through the lean scenes of quiet poise and knowing stares.

And what's with all the intense close ups? One or two are fine but I felt I was invading the actor's personal space with so many intimate in-your-face shots.

Fiennes does a fine job of acting in this, but his direction gave us a story that was just too stolid and deathly slow that all the visual good will was lost. It was a film that we, the audience, just had to endure.

Bummer.

** out of *****

Spectre of the Gun - Star Trek Third Season 1968

Hadn't seen this in many many years and was really quite impressed with how good an episode it is. Not only is the set design eerie in a surrealist way but there is also genuine tension and a real sense of danger facing the landing party from the Enterprise.

The third season of the show was hampered by a reduced budget and a mostly awol Executive Producer (Roddenberry) but the limitations imposed on the the show actually helped to get people's creative juices flowing and this episode is a case in point. By not having enough money to create a Western town on the sound stage the Producers and the Production Designer settled on an almost Dali like environment that was unnerving and visually compelling.

Another Year

Mike Leigh's a year-in-the-life of a blissfully happy autumn years married couple and the lonely people who come into their lives.

It's virtually non-stop dialogue from beginning to end but Leigh allows the actors to really ply their trade and create interesting and memorable characters. Life just unfolds - there's no clever plot devices or surprise twists here, just ordinary people going about their lives as best they can. Some have wealth and comfort while others have much less and are trapped in their feelings of failure and desperation of wanting a better life.

As the narrative unfolds it is Mary, played by Lesley Manville who we really come to like and feel for. She's in her mid 50's, single and lost while her friends Tom and Gerri have a successful and upper middle class life of ease and material wealth. Mary just can't get herself together despite all the support around her, and that's ultimately the film's major strength: there's no trite happy ending or one last ditch effort for a better life - life is what we make it and we all have to live with the consequences.

The performances cannot be faulted, the script (which benefitted from heavy ad-libbing) feels natural and smooth and the film is shot without fanfare of fancy cinematic tricks. It all just works in perfect harmony.

**** out of *****

The World's End

What starts off as a reunion to finally undertake and complete a pub crawl ends up being a fight for survival against an invasion of alien robots.

Lots of laughs, lots of fun and certainly lots of violence, I can't help but feel though that this is slightly derivative of 'Shaun of the Dead'. In that film there were zombies running amok in an English village; here we have alien robots running amok in an English village.

In all honesty I was rather enjoying the story of these guys getting together again and using the pub crawl as a way to revisit and heal old emotional wounds and I was a bit disappointed when the whole sci-fi stuff started. From that moment on I could see how the film was going to turn out; fights, laughs people standing up to the bullies and then saving the world.

Loads of fun yes, but predictable.

Everyone in the awesome cast has several moments to shine yet Simon Pegg definitely carries the film throughout. I've often thought he would make a very good Doctor Who and this film kind of feels like a Doctor Who type story, except for the rampant alcoholism.

All said and done this is still a brilliant comedy from a team of people who make consistently brilliant comedies. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.

***1/2 out of *****

Satellite Boy

A cliched, tepid and ultimately uninteresting tale of a young indigenous boy travelling far and wide only to learn that his real home and place of belonging is the very place where he started.

Full of good intentions that are unfortuntaly severely let down by a Director who doesn't allow the performances to shine through and an Editor who is way too fond of cutting scenes that should really have been left to run uninterrupted.

Potentially powerful scenes are chopped up to the point where they become trite and meaningless. This hurry-up attitude prevents the film from becoming a truly remarkable work and only succeeds in being a mildly passable diversion, mainly for overseas viewers.

It's all so predictable. The innocent little boy on a grand quest to find his place in the world. Along side him is his best friend who is swayed by 'modern' ways and foibles leaving our young hero to fight the good fight for a vague and in the end unanswered conclusion.

A nice try for sure but it feels more like a rough cut.

** out of *****

The Counsellor

I've never really been a fan of Ridley Scott and his attempt at a cool/stylish/thriller is a dreadful failure in my opinion.

The plot is weighed down by pointless and confusing long-winded dialogue that doesn't seem to mean anything and for a thriller there is very little that is actually thrilling.

Plot threads are left dangling, Michael Fassbender's character (known only as the Counsellor) is a wishy-washy fellow who cries at the drop of the hat, and the film just plays way too long.

All the actors do the best they can and some of the (very brief) action scenes are done well, but overall this is a movie that really needed to be taken back to the shop, reworked and repaired and then given to a Director who could actually make something of it.

Avoid!

* out of *****

Mickey Rooney 1920-2014

I was a huge fan of the 'Andy Hardy' films back when I was a little kid and later went on to absolutely love 'The Human Comedy', a film he made during World War 2. I still think it was his best performance.

I'm not sad that he is gone, for he did what he loved and people love him for it. He was an old man, he made his mark on this world and now he has moved on. Ok, that's cool.

Star Trek: Nemesis

OR

Star Trek: Cliche

OR 

Star Trek: Vacuous

A totally un-fitting end to the adventures of the Enterprise D (E) crew. This was filmmaking at its most unimaginative; stolid, by-the-numbers extreme. The trailer looked great and I was really looking forward to seeing it, after all, the even numbered Trek films were generally the better ones, but this one plumed the depths of cliche after cliche. No risks taken, no vision offered, nothing to remember it by.

Standard fight scenes, vacuous action scenes, cardboard villain - this film has it all. 

After the more than tepid response to 'Star Trek: Insurrection', it seems the filmmakers wanted some big-screen-action yet their television mentality crippled this film from being little more than yet another extended TV episode. 

Ok, it holds one's attention and it's always nice to the see the gang together, but they are just doing another film without any apparent passion. 

I know everyone dumps all over 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier', but at least that had the guts to have a unique vision and a new and challenging point of view, whereas 'Nemesis' was the worst kind of filmmaking: boring.

Too many contrivances, too many plot predictable plot devices. You have a huge screen to play with, so go play with it for heaven's sake! Make it epic, make it cinematic! But you didn't, you made a flat, dull expensive TV two-parter.

Why couldn't you do the mirror-universe?? That would have been awesome! Give us some real drama, not this juvenile comic book story. Give us something we can sink out teeth into. 

Though I think that JJ Abram's re-imagined 'Star Trek' films are just as vacuous and derivative, at least they are cinematic taking full advantage of that beautiful, terrifying silver screen. 

** out of *****

GREY GARDENS

A fascinating HBO feature starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, it is the story of a mother and daughter who shut themselves away from society for decades in a crumbling house and yet cannot escape the attentions of the outside world.

Lange is awesome while Barrymore is absolutely brilliant. The film's strengths are its attention to detail, intelligent handling of two very eccentric characters and its wonderfully realised script. One cannot but be enamoured by these two women despite their skew-wiff take on life and existence.

They were the subject of a groundbreaking documentary by the Maysles brothers back in the early 1970's and this film so perfectly recreates the house and the actresses bring the characters to life so accurately that it is sometimes impossible to see where the doco ended and this film begins.

It does slightly drag towards the end but that is a minor quibble for the film is a near perfect blend of love, pace, comedy, drama and almost voyeristic insight into the lives of these two very strange women.

**** out of *****

Star Trek: First Contact

I watched this again after not having seen it for several years and I still think it's one of the better, more audience friendly Trek films so far. Picard and Data get the majority of the scenes while the other main crew members, Crusher, Troi, Geordie etc get very little to do. There's also some cool cameos from Barclay and The Doctor from 'Star Trek: Voyager'.

What was most disappointing about the movie was the confrontation on the deflector dish on the exterior of the Enterprise. What should have been a nail-biting, edge of your seat scene instead came across as stagey, flat and rather dull. Director Frakes just doesn't seem to know where to put the camera in this scene with the result that the camera work was un-dynamic and uninspired. Perhaps because the Borg are so slow moving, and the Enterprise crew are in clunky space suits means that this supposed action scene was doomed to be a lethargically paced battle.

James Cromwell was terrific in the role of Zefram Cochrane and is usually the most interesting person to watch in whichever scene he is in, however it would have been great if Tom Hanks had played the role. He was originally going to do just that but his own film, 'That Thing You Do', got the green light and so he had to withdraw. 

I still think the movie looks like a TV episode, there's just something so 'TV' about it despite the very impressive special effects. The JJ Abrams Star Trek movies have successfully avoided this TV look.

Rating:

***1/2 out of *****