These weeks are just starting to fly by. A curious mix this week of comedies, modern noir, Bond movies and IMAX treats. Obviously most of the flicks I catch are at home, and while a 42" HDTV is certainly not a shabby way to watch any movie, there's no substitute for going to the cinema. Especially when said cinema is the IMAX in London, and that IMAX theatre is showing the prologue to my most anticipated movie of the year (possibly all time...???).
More on that in a separate column as I'm still trying to digest what I saw. Suffice to say, Nolan did not disappoint. But then again, when does he? Onto week 5........
January 29th - Brick
I happened to catch this when I was living in LA after seeing the movie performing well at Sundance. It was pitched as a modern noir, a nod to the classics of Bogart and Nicholson. It was refreshing to see a movie set in a high school that wasn't a gross out comedy or a coming of age tale. Instead, it was a detective story as Joseph Gordon Levitt's intelligent outsider investigated the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Staples of high schools are all present - the loud mouth jock, the mysterious drama student, the druggies and even the nerds. But it's all presented in such an original way and played totally with a straight face. The early posters even had an urban dictionary attached to them so people would understand the slang the characters were using. Intelligent, witty, well paced and with interesting twists and turns, this is highly recommended. It's the movie that made Gordon Levitt a talent to watch, and director Rian Johnson a hot prospect for the future. His upcoming time travel tale 'Looper', with Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis along for the ride looks like one of the most interesting movies of 2012.
9/10
January 30th - Comedian
I'm a big fan of Seinfeld. I was late in becoming a believer, waiting until the show had been finished 10+ years, before embracing its' genius. And it really is fantastic. I even shelled out £200 for 2 tickets to see the great man himself do a stand up show in London 6 months ago. Worth every penny. And the reason it was worth every penny is because it was 100% new material. Comedians, they always have fall back jokes. Jokes that will hit the funny bone, no matter who the audience are. But Jerry Seinfeld did a show a few years back titled 'I'm telling you for the last time...' It was his final show using said material, before putting it to rest once and for all. I highly recommend checking it out as it is still comedic gold. Thus, he decided to start all over again. Testing new material in the smaller venues of his native New York. And this forms the basis of Comedian. In addition to those bits, there's another up and coming comedian, who is managed by Jerry's manager, and it follows his efforts to make it big. The scenes with Jerry are great, following the genesis of a joke and it's evolution into a finished bit. The scenes with the up and comer 'Orny Adams' are not. He's a whiny, egotistical and frankly not very funny guy, who you cannot possibly root for. Truly a movie of two halves.
5/10
January 31st - Infernal Affairs
Anyone who is reading this column will in all likelihood have seen Marty Scorsese's The Departed with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. If not, why not? Great movie, solid performances, the most fun Jack Nicholson has had in years and brilliant plotting. Said plotting however came from this Asian classic, starring Tony Leung and Andy Lau. The original version and for me, definitely the best. The Departed for me was a little long, a little flabby, and threw in an unnecessary love triangle. Infernal Affairs is sleek, polished with not a wasted frame or subplot. It follows the lives of two men, one a cop infiltrating the mob and the other a mobster infiltrating the cops. It's a story of dual identity, loyalty and honour. It also boasts some of the most suspenseful scenes you will ever see as the two men try to flush each other out. It spawned two sequels which expand significantly on the story, with one being a prequel and the other a direct continuation. It is a great mythology all round and some of the best movies to ever come out of Asia. I even forked out £50 to buy an original quad cinema poster (pictured above), and it hangs proudly on my wall. Highly, highly recommended.
10/10
February 1st - The World is not Enough
Pierce Brosnan's third outing as 007 may well be his weakest (though the special effects laden and Halle Berry co-starring Die Another Day may have something to say about that), and it's such a shame, as the first half of the movie is very, very good. It all starts out with one of the best ever opening sequences which takes Bond from Madrid and back to London, culminating in a pulsating boat chase down the Thames. The story then gets personal as one of M's friends has been killed and his daughter, Elektra is the target of Robert Carlyle's madman. There's a rich backstory established between Elektra, and how she had been kidnapped previously by the same madman. It then all starts to go downhill. I don't know if it's the idiotic casting of Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, action scenes that aren't inventive or simply don't make sense, the presence of Goldie as a henchman or the totally underwhelming finale, but it all just feels like a missed opportunity. Bond movies always require a suspension of disbelief but they're always still entertaining. Unfortunately The World is not Enough is, well, not enough.
5/10
February 2nd - The Incredible Hulk
I have to admit that I'm a little sad that in The Avengers, we will be seeing a third different actor in a row filling Bruce Banner's purple trunks. That's nothing against Mark Ruffalo, he's a fine actor. But Eric Bana did a great job in a pretty mediocre movie. And here, Edward Norton does a great job in a better movie. Whether there's some truth to him being difficult on set, or demanding an input to the scripting phase I don't know, but The Incredible Hulk is an entertaining flick. It's not quite at the level of Thor or Captain America, but I would put it on a par with Iron Man 2 with the last 20 minutes being an exercise in pure adrenaline action as Hulk and Abomination tear up NYC. Bruce Banner is on the run, hiding out in Brazil as he desperately tries to find a cure to his...ahem...anger problems. General Ross is determined to track him down and somehow weaponise his Hulk form. Throw in Betty Ross who still carries a torch for Banner and Tim Roth's angry mercenary with something to prove and you've got a great night with a bowl of popcorn. Just don't bring your brain to the party....
7/10
More on that in a separate column as I'm still trying to digest what I saw. Suffice to say, Nolan did not disappoint. But then again, when does he? Onto week 5........
January 29th - Brick
I happened to catch this when I was living in LA after seeing the movie performing well at Sundance. It was pitched as a modern noir, a nod to the classics of Bogart and Nicholson. It was refreshing to see a movie set in a high school that wasn't a gross out comedy or a coming of age tale. Instead, it was a detective story as Joseph Gordon Levitt's intelligent outsider investigated the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Staples of high schools are all present - the loud mouth jock, the mysterious drama student, the druggies and even the nerds. But it's all presented in such an original way and played totally with a straight face. The early posters even had an urban dictionary attached to them so people would understand the slang the characters were using. Intelligent, witty, well paced and with interesting twists and turns, this is highly recommended. It's the movie that made Gordon Levitt a talent to watch, and director Rian Johnson a hot prospect for the future. His upcoming time travel tale 'Looper', with Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis along for the ride looks like one of the most interesting movies of 2012.9/10
January 30th - Comedian
I'm a big fan of Seinfeld. I was late in becoming a believer, waiting until the show had been finished 10+ years, before embracing its' genius. And it really is fantastic. I even shelled out £200 for 2 tickets to see the great man himself do a stand up show in London 6 months ago. Worth every penny. And the reason it was worth every penny is because it was 100% new material. Comedians, they always have fall back jokes. Jokes that will hit the funny bone, no matter who the audience are. But Jerry Seinfeld did a show a few years back titled 'I'm telling you for the last time...' It was his final show using said material, before putting it to rest once and for all. I highly recommend checking it out as it is still comedic gold. Thus, he decided to start all over again. Testing new material in the smaller venues of his native New York. And this forms the basis of Comedian. In addition to those bits, there's another up and coming comedian, who is managed by Jerry's manager, and it follows his efforts to make it big. The scenes with Jerry are great, following the genesis of a joke and it's evolution into a finished bit. The scenes with the up and comer 'Orny Adams' are not. He's a whiny, egotistical and frankly not very funny guy, who you cannot possibly root for. Truly a movie of two halves.5/10
January 31st - Infernal Affairs
10/10
February 1st - The World is not Enough
Pierce Brosnan's third outing as 007 may well be his weakest (though the special effects laden and Halle Berry co-starring Die Another Day may have something to say about that), and it's such a shame, as the first half of the movie is very, very good. It all starts out with one of the best ever opening sequences which takes Bond from Madrid and back to London, culminating in a pulsating boat chase down the Thames. The story then gets personal as one of M's friends has been killed and his daughter, Elektra is the target of Robert Carlyle's madman. There's a rich backstory established between Elektra, and how she had been kidnapped previously by the same madman. It then all starts to go downhill. I don't know if it's the idiotic casting of Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, action scenes that aren't inventive or simply don't make sense, the presence of Goldie as a henchman or the totally underwhelming finale, but it all just feels like a missed opportunity. Bond movies always require a suspension of disbelief but they're always still entertaining. Unfortunately The World is not Enough is, well, not enough.
5/10
February 2nd - The Incredible Hulk
I have to admit that I'm a little sad that in The Avengers, we will be seeing a third different actor in a row filling Bruce Banner's purple trunks. That's nothing against Mark Ruffalo, he's a fine actor. But Eric Bana did a great job in a pretty mediocre movie. And here, Edward Norton does a great job in a better movie. Whether there's some truth to him being difficult on set, or demanding an input to the scripting phase I don't know, but The Incredible Hulk is an entertaining flick. It's not quite at the level of Thor or Captain America, but I would put it on a par with Iron Man 2 with the last 20 minutes being an exercise in pure adrenaline action as Hulk and Abomination tear up NYC. Bruce Banner is on the run, hiding out in Brazil as he desperately tries to find a cure to his...ahem...anger problems. General Ross is determined to track him down and somehow weaponise his Hulk form. Throw in Betty Ross who still carries a torch for Banner and Tim Roth's angry mercenary with something to prove and you've got a great night with a bowl of popcorn. Just don't bring your brain to the party....7/10
February 3rd - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
I was only ever going to see M:I 4 in the cinema in one way, and that is in IMAX with The Dark Knight Rises Prologue attached. And on Friday, I got my wish. As I said above, I'll probably do a little bit on the prologue itself in the next few days. For now, the focus is on The Cruiser. And I have to say, at 49 years old, he's still got it. This may be the most fun you have at a cinema this year. The Avengers will probably challenge it in the non cerebral entertainment stakes, but Brad Bird's live action debut is pretty spectacular. The story follows Ethan Hunt, who starts the movie in prison under mysterious circumstances, but is soon broken out by an IMF team and sent on a mission. When it goes horribly wrong and The Kremlin is destroyed (yes, you read that right), his entire team is disavowed. Ethan sets out to prove his innocence, stop WW3 and try to keep his eyes off his truly stunning IMF team partner Paula Patton (no easy feat, see the poster above). The stunts are pretty jaw dropping, especially in Dubai. From Tom Cruise actually climbing the world's tallest building for real, to an extended chase scene through a sandstorm, the action is inventive and fun. It's also finally found its voice as a franchise, not taking itself too seriously and displaying a lightness of touch missing from contemporaries such as Bond and Bourne. Try your best to catch it on IMAX as there is around 35 minutes of footage shot especially for the format. And it's pretty stunning.
8/10
(9/10 if you catch it on IMAX)
February 4th - The Hangover 2
I went to see this at the cinema, simply off the fact that the first one was pretty great, with the leads sharing a fun camaraderie, and surely more of the same would be good. Right? Right?!? Well, it is almost exactly the same. Beat for beat, plot for plot, almost shot for shot. Instead of Vegas, it's Bangkok. Instead of a baby, it's a monkey. Instead of a new wife, Stu gets with a tranny. Instead of Mr Chow, it's Paul Giamatti. It's just all so dull, so predictable, and sadly, just not very funny. I think the problem with sequels like this, is that they switch focus on who the main characters are. In the first one, Zach Galifianakis's 'Alan' was a demented character who pretty much stole the show. But he was a supporting character. We never saw enough of him for that madness to get dull. Here, he lasts about 10 minutes before his entire schtick is just boring and repetitive, just like the movie itself. It even ends with a big passionate speech about love and being different, despite the fact that the new husband to be not only cheated on his fiancee, but did it with another man. Who likes to dress up as a woman. And with a new Tysonesque tattoo on his face. I know that these aren't supposed to be the most realistic films in the world, but in the words of Gob Bluth, C'Mon!! Just take the word 'Trip' out of the foreign movie poster above and you're pretty much there......
4/10
Week 5 down. Infernal Affairs is definitely my most recommended movie of the week, but M:I 4 is definitely worth searching out on an IMAX screen.
This week I have The Usual Suspects, The Tree of Life and American Pie lined up. It'll no doubt be the usual mix of the ridiculous, the genius and the absurd. I'm also left with something of a dilemma. Should this 366 day movie experiment be 366 different movies? Or can I count the same movie twice? Drive has arrived on Blu ray and I'm aching to watch it again. Guess I'll just have to watch 2 movies in one day. Piece of cake!
Until next time........
I was only ever going to see M:I 4 in the cinema in one way, and that is in IMAX with The Dark Knight Rises Prologue attached. And on Friday, I got my wish. As I said above, I'll probably do a little bit on the prologue itself in the next few days. For now, the focus is on The Cruiser. And I have to say, at 49 years old, he's still got it. This may be the most fun you have at a cinema this year. The Avengers will probably challenge it in the non cerebral entertainment stakes, but Brad Bird's live action debut is pretty spectacular. The story follows Ethan Hunt, who starts the movie in prison under mysterious circumstances, but is soon broken out by an IMF team and sent on a mission. When it goes horribly wrong and The Kremlin is destroyed (yes, you read that right), his entire team is disavowed. Ethan sets out to prove his innocence, stop WW3 and try to keep his eyes off his truly stunning IMF team partner Paula Patton (no easy feat, see the poster above). The stunts are pretty jaw dropping, especially in Dubai. From Tom Cruise actually climbing the world's tallest building for real, to an extended chase scene through a sandstorm, the action is inventive and fun. It's also finally found its voice as a franchise, not taking itself too seriously and displaying a lightness of touch missing from contemporaries such as Bond and Bourne. Try your best to catch it on IMAX as there is around 35 minutes of footage shot especially for the format. And it's pretty stunning.8/10
(9/10 if you catch it on IMAX)
February 4th - The Hangover 2
4/10
Week 5 down. Infernal Affairs is definitely my most recommended movie of the week, but M:I 4 is definitely worth searching out on an IMAX screen.
This week I have The Usual Suspects, The Tree of Life and American Pie lined up. It'll no doubt be the usual mix of the ridiculous, the genius and the absurd. I'm also left with something of a dilemma. Should this 366 day movie experiment be 366 different movies? Or can I count the same movie twice? Drive has arrived on Blu ray and I'm aching to watch it again. Guess I'll just have to watch 2 movies in one day. Piece of cake!
Until next time........
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